Exhibit runs through March 4

Nan Kempner. Photograph ©Bruce Weber, courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art. www.metmuseum.org

Nan Kempner '52 learned the basics of fashion from her friend Yves Saint Laurent.

"He taught me a very important thing: All a woman needs is a good trench coat, a pair of black pants, a long black skirt, a short black skirt and lots of tops," the late Kempner said in a 2004 interview in New York magazine.

Kempner, an icon of New York fashion, is the subject of an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute through March 4, 2007. A passionate collector of haute couture, Kempner was known for an effortless look that was achieved through great attention to detail.

Harold Koda, curator in charge of the Costume Institute, said in a press release announcing the exhibit, "While her taste was decidedly Francophile, by conveying a less rigid and prescribed version of elegance, Mrs. Kempner infused chic, that French concept of fashionable stylishness, with her own distinctly American inflection."

Koda will discuss the relationship between Kempner and her designers during a museum talk at 3 p.m. on Jan. 7.

Kempner offered this advice for the new generation of stylistas in the New York article: "Get 'tons' of sleep, entertain 'constantly,' and 'be yourself.' " Kempner died last year of emphysema.

Nan Kempner: American Chic will be at the Met through March 4. Photo courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art – Anna Marie Kellen. www.metmuseum.org