By Diane Pernet

The first time that I spoke to James Goldstein was three years ago at a Dries Van Noten show in Paris. At that time I was working on a video project for Galeries Lafayette called Fashioned Out and I was looking for interesting sound bites. James was sitting in the front row wearing a Roberto Cavalli blue ostrich jacket, anaconda boots and a Stetson hat made to measure by Lord's of Los Angeles. Before the show began I walked up to him introduced myself and asked him if he'd mind answering a few questions. With a twinkle in his blue eyes and a shy smile he complied. A few months later I was in Vienna for a festival and in my hotel room was a copy of AD magazine with a 6-page spread on James and his amazing house. James Goldstein, or Gentlemen Jim as he likes to be called, bought the house in 1972. John Lautner is the architect of this Hollywood villa and remodeled it in 1989. I knew that if I ever made it to Los Angeles I absolutely had to go there for a visit. Six months ago I ran into James at the Louvre, just after the Vivienne Westwood show. I asked him where he was going next and since he had no immediate plans I suggested that he attend the Haider Ackermann show. James always stays at L’Hotel, the old Oscar Wilde haunt, and Haider's show was held at the Beaux Arts, only a few short steps away. After the show James came up to thank me for telling him about the show and asked me if I'd ever been inside L’Hotel. When I replied that I had never been beyond the first floor he asked me if I would like to visit it. Soon we were in his room and I pulled out my video camera and made a short interview that ended up in my film festival with the title, Portrait of a Consumer.

James is a man that believes in obsessions, he is also a man who does not believe in devoting more than a few hours a week to anything that has to do with work. The tall silver-haired dandy has three passions in life, architecture, basketball and fashion. He purchases at least a dozen new outfits each season and when the year is over he never wears them again. The eccentric, pleasure-seeking billionaire is considered America's biggest basketball fan, attending around 100 games and spending $150,000 a year on the sport. Nothing could keep him away from a Lakers game. He is part of the front row landscape at all the major fashion shows around the planet. In August this year I was in Los Angeles to launch You Wear it Well, unfortunately James was out of town but he arranged that a few friends of mine and I could go and pay a visit to the house. The house has been in a constant state of transformation over the past 20 years. The three-story villa, which was originally built in the 60's, integrates glass and metal in a concrete structure. From the bedroom you have a 180 degree panoramic view of downtown Los Angeles. Gigantic glass walls overlook the swimming pool and the ocean. One of the glass sides of the swimming pool acts as the wall behind James' bed. The house is minimalist and meditative and nowhere more so than in the observatory, or "Skyspace" which was built for him by James Turrell. The metal roof of the John Lautner bunker opens by remote control to reveal the California sky and another rectangle opens up to reveal the landscape as if it were captured in the perfect frame. An illumination cycles, going from blood red to lime green to peacock to silver, casting a spectrum of pale colours on walls without corners. I feel that I've just experienced heaven.