Suit
Design House House of Balmain French
Designer Oscar de la Renta American, born Dominican Republic
Not on view
Mrs. Kempner's closets yielded a seemingly endless array of tailored suits. Many of the designs incorporated sartorial variations on iconic menswear elements: the spencer, the "Eisenhower" or blouson jacket, the double-breasted "gangster" suit, and the formal blazer. While acknowledging the virtues of traditional menswear, Mrs. Kempner was also an advocate of innovations of cut and detailing in her tailoring. The virtuosity of Balmain's jacket lapel incorporated into a seam to create a trompe l'oeil waistcoat or Saint Laurent's nautical ensemble that supplants a naval uniform's white duck with feminine cotton piqué suggests her interest in witty and novel details.
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