The Pagoda Suit of 1955 exemplifies James' sculptural vision, which simultaneously abstracts and flatters the female form. James' color sensibility is equally sophisticated. In this case, red silk brocade with a gold floral pattern evokes what the artist Jean Cocteau called "the red and gold disease" - an obsessive passion for the theatre - by alluding to red theatrical curtains with curvilinear, gold decoration. The Pagoda Suit also evokes Orientalist associations, both in terms of its "Chinese red" color and Persian-style gold floral pattern, and in purely formal terms, with the gracefully flared jacket and high Moghul collar.