MR. CHARBONNET. CELEBRANT. OFFICIANT. GUIDE AND LEGEND.

The renowned raconteur was born into an ancient 18th century French-American Louisiana family with a lot of silver and no one to polish it. That bit of dirty laundry means what it means to people who care, of whom Mr. Charbonnet is not one. One of six children, he found escape in his sister's doll collection. Later he discovered mentors in the eccentricities of his mother's friend Paulette, and the stories of his father's grand and imperious friend Mr. Rolf, whose tipsy first wife was debutant of the year and would often send whole dinners violently crashing to the floor with her forearm when a waiter's service displeased her.

Attending Catholic school left Mr. Charbonnet with an enlightened opinion on the unfortunate decline of nuns' fashions throughout the years: "From gliding across floors like angelic swans, holding their long veils with lithe hands during the gusty New Orleans afternoons, eventually reduced to wearing cheap street cloths, sneakers and junk earrings. As a child he was told these ladies were "the brides of Christ," and now they resemble the roller coaster operators at the amusement park his family used to visit during summer weekends.

Summers were otherwise spent in pools, riding horseback, and sliding down the rail of the tall, wide staircase that lead to the front door of the Charbonnet home. Keeping to himself, with the exception of a minority of colorful, like-minded locals, he grew into a deep appreciation for the truly beautiful: objects, stories, songs, furniture and clothes. Tired of drama, he left for New York City on July 4th, 1987, Mr. Charbonnet’s day of independence. A blessed iconoclast, Mr. Charbonnet fell into potluck rather than a pot of gold.

After his success in New York as an interior designer, Joseph Holtzman asked Mr. Charbonnet to appear in his notorious shelter magazine Nest. Responding to photographer Alexis Hay's demands to take his home portrait up a notch, Mr. Charbonnet posed on a recliner wearing his black velvet bishop's robe with a ruby, sapphire and emerald-encrusted cross hanging just above the slit, revealing his nude, gorgeous gams, crossed and crowned on each foot with his exact replicas of Dorothy's ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz (all while nestling inside his 1,000-plus doll collection room — an obsessive habit aided more by his experimenting with Prozac than by his sister's childhood influence).

Mr. Charbonnet was selected as one of Architectural Digest's "Top 100 World Designers" for three consecutive years. He has designed Fifth and Park Avenue homes, country homes and houses in his hometown of New Orleans, as well as restoring Judy Garland's childhood home at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

He currently resides in Saint Francisville, Louisiana, at his home museum, the beguiling Marcatorium. He is known throughout The South for his bread pudding, signature cocktail and his guided tours of Saint Francisville and New Orleans. He is also known and lauded for Cafe Charbonnet-at-Large, his traveling cabaret. He is available for bookings from Baton Rouge to Le Marais to The Ginza.

Mr. Charbonnet states, "I owe 75 percent of my success to thank you notes and dirty jokes."

The forever humble Mr. Charbonnet insists that he is not a star. But those of whom know otherwise strongly disagree.