"The American woman has always been a great
inspiration for me. Nan Kempner, to my eyes,
always represented this modern, free, independent
and elegant woman. She is probably the woman
who best wore my clothes, with whom I shared
the longest and greatest complicity." The words
are those of Yves Saint Laurent, whose "long
complicity" with this American woman in Paris
began in 1964. Nan Kempner passed away in
2005, leaving a collection of some 1000 pieces of
haute couture, including 376 by Yves Saint-
Laurent. Now, the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves
Saint Laurent has put together a show of 77 of
those pieces, from the designer's Yves Saint
Laurent Haute Couture collection. From daywear
to eveningwear, from pantsuits to trenchcoats, the
particular elegance of Yves Saint Laurent's designs
is perfectly twinned by the innate chic of this muse
and patroness, who in the words of Pierre Bergé,
"was faithful to Saint Laurent as a woman is faithful
to her lover."

Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent
Nan Kempner: Une Américaine à Paris
May 16 through July 29, 2007
5, avenue Marceau
75116 Paris
T. +33 (0)1 44 31 64 31