Kempner, Nan

▪ 2006

Nan Field Schlesinger 

      American fashionista (b. July 24, 1930, San Francisco, Calif.—d. July 3, 2005, New York, N.Y.), was an international trendsetter who for 50 years remained a devoted client of French haute couture. She was especially fond of handmade French luxury dresses that were priced very high to reflect the painstaking workmanship involved in creating them. At one point Kempner, who attended nearly every fashion show staged by Yves Saint Laurent from 1962, was said to be his muse. She was also an active charity fund-raiser, a fashion correspondent for French Vogue magazine, and a representative for Christies auction house, and a role model for the tribe of New York City socialites that Tom Wolfe christened “social X-rays” in his best seller The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987). Kempner's entertainment manual, R.S.V.P., was published in 2000.

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