Kimono

Since garments with patterning or complex ornamentation are less easily combined into new ensembles than those of plain cloth and neutral color, much of Mrs. Kempner's collection is of solid hued fabrics. Her love of high-key effects, however, made for a substantial number of exceptions to this approach. Photographs of her in the 1960s are as likely to show her in a psychedelic print Pucci gown as in a Saint Laurent "smoking." Recent acquisitions that betray her fondness for beautiful prints include a boldly colored Jean Paul Gaultier gown and a caftan with an animal hide effect by Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche. Mrs. Kempner also selected a delicately ombréed jacket by Tom Ford for Gucci. The silk-floss embroidery in a pattern of plum branches and herons is exquisitely rendered and the style, in the form of a cropped Japanese kimono, is boldly theatrical.