From the Front: Yaeger on Why 'Some Like It Haute'

This week our fashion expert, Lynn Yaeger, visits Nan Kempner's exhibit at the Costume Institute. A display of haute couture past, the late socialite's wardrobe can't help highlight the industry's contemporary wane. Yaeger explains:

Now so many faithful haute couture customers have passed away that the institution's very survival is in question, especially since the granddaughters of these customers, today's "social girls," are more often than not only interested in couture if it has the name Juicy attached.

Despite this popularity decline, Harold Koda, the show's curator, sums up couture's eternal appeal:

"I love it because it is breathtakingly beautiful. It is beyond anything you see in your life! It's like Vermeer versus the Washington Square art show."

Nan Kempner: American Chic
The Costume Institute at the Met
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY
Until March 4