Élisabeth de Caraman-Chimay, the Countess Greffulhe (1860–1952), patronized the greatest couturiers of her day, but her audacious personal style was very much her own. As the press observed: “Her fashions, whether invented for her or by her must resemble no one else’s,” adding that she preferred to look “bizarre” rather than “banal.” In this, she resembled her uncle, the dandy-poet Count Robert de Montesquiou, who inspired Marcel Proust’s notorious character, the Baron de Charlus, just as the Countess Greffulhe inspired Proust’s immortal character, Oriane, the Duchesse de Guermantes.

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.