Nan Kempner (July 24, 1930 – July 3, 2005) was a New York City
socialite
A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...
, reputed for her fashion sense and her philanthropy.
Biography
Born Nan Field Schlesinger in San Francisco, Kempner was the only child in a wealthy family. Her father, Albert "Speed" Schlesinger, who owned the largest car dealership in California, reportedly told his daughter, "You'll never make it on your face, so you'd better be interesting." Kempner started collecting couture clothing when she was a young woman living in San Francisco.
Kempner attended
Connecticut College
Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college w ...
, where she met Thomas Lenox Kempner, a banker and son of publisher
Alan H. Kempner as well as grandson of
Carl M. Loeb. They married in the early 1950s and had three children. After living in London for a short time, the Kempners moved to New York City, where Nan became a leader in
high society
High society, sometimes simply society, is the behavior and lifestyle of people with the highest levels of wealth and social status. It includes their related affiliations, social events and practices. Upscale social clubs were open to men based ...
.
Kempner, who missed only one runway season in 55 years, was widely considered among the most highly informed authorities in fashion. Over the course of her life, she owned one of the foremost private couture collections in the country, featuring classic designers such as
Mainbocher
Mainbocher is a fashion label founded by the American couturier Main Rousseau Bocher (October 24, 1890 – December 27, 1976), also known as Mainbocher (pronounced "Maine-Bow-Shay"). Established in 1929, the house of Mainbocher successfully ope ...
and her favorite designers
Yves Saint Laurent and
Bill Blass
William Ralph Blass (June 22, 1922 – June 12, 2002) was an American fashion designer. He was the recipient of many fashion awards, including seven Coty Awards and the Fashion Institute of Technology's Lifetime Achievement Award (1999).
Early ...
. Her collection preserved some of the iconic outfits of mid-20th century couture.
At various times in her life Kempner worked as a contributing editor for French ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
'', a fashion editor for ''
Harper's Bazaar
''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...
'', a design consultant for
Tiffany & Co., and an international representative of the auction house
Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
.
Charity Work
Over 30 years, she helped raise more than $75,000,000 for the
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute– ...
. The proceeds for her 2000 book, ''R.S.V.P,'' about good hostess etiquette, had its proceeds go to charity.
In Popular Culture
* In 1973, she was painted by
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
.
* In
Armistead Maupin
Armistead Jones Maupin, Jr. ( ) (born May 13, 1944) is an American writer notable for ''Tales of the City'', a series of novels set in San Francisco.
Early life
Maupin was born in Washington, D.C., to Diana Jane (Barton) and Armistead Jones Maup ...
's ''
Tales of the City
''Tales of the City'' is a series of nine novels written by American author Armistead Maupin from 1978 to 2014, depicting the life of a group of friends in San Francisco, many of whom are LGBT. The stories from ''Tales'' were originally serial ...
'', two society matrons discuss the creation of a society
wax museum
A wax museum or waxworks usually consists of a collection of wax sculptures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses, wearing real clothes.
Some wax museums have a special section dubbe ...
, concerned that future generations might not otherwise know what Nan Kempner looked like.
Characterizations
*
Diana Vreeland
Diana Vreeland (September 29, 1903 – August 22, 1989) was a French-American fashion columnist and editor. She worked for the fashion magazine ''Harper's Bazaar'' and as editor-in-chief at ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'', later becoming a special c ...
, former editor of
''Vogue'': "There are no chic women in America. The one exception is Nan Kempner."
*
Valentino said, "Nan always looks so wonderful in my clothes, because she had a body like a hanger."
*
Joan Juliet Buck
Joan Juliet Buck (born 1948) is an American writer and actress. She was the editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris, French ''Vogue'' from 1994 to 2001, the only American ever to have edited a French magazine. She was contributing editor to ''Vogue (maga ...
wrote in ''
W'' that in the 1960s, at a time when women in pants were challenging social mores, Kempner defied the dress code at
La Côte Basque
La Côte Basque was a New York City restaurant. It opened in the late 1950s and operated until it closed on March 7, 2004. In business for 45 years, upon its closing ''The New York Times'' called it a "former high-society temple of French cuisine ...
, which declined to seat women wearing pants, by removing her trousers.
* A thin elegant blonde, Kempner was said to be the inspiration for the term “social X-ray” in
Tom Wolfe
Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...
's novel ''
Bonfire of the Vanities
A bonfire of the vanities ( it, falò delle vanità) is a burning of objects condemned by religious authorities as occasions of sin. The phrase itself usually refers to the bonfire of 7 February 1497, when supporters of the Dominican friar Gir ...
''.
Death and legacy
Kempner died on July 3, 2005, aged 74, from
emphysema
Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...
.
She was survived by her husband and three children: Lina Kempner, Thomas Kempner Jr., and James Kempner.
[ Two months later, her family held a memorial service in her honor at the auction house ]Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
. Five hundred of her friends were in attendance.
In December 2006, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
's Costume Institute exhibited selections from Kempner's couture collection. In 2007, the exhibition was displayed at San Francisco's De Young Museum
The de Young Museum, formally the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco, California. Located in Golden Gate Park, it is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, along with the Legion of Honor ...
from June 16 to November 11. Much of the collection went to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...
, including items by Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, and the house of Christian Dior.
Sources
How to Be a Park Avenue Princess
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kempner, Nan
1930 births
2005 deaths
American magazine editors
Women magazine editors
American socialites
Connecticut College alumni
Deaths from emphysema
Writers from San Francisco
Jewish American philanthropists
20th-century American philanthropists
Carl M. Loeb family
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American Jews