Betty Halbreich, who gave generations of customers at Bergdorf Goodman an unparalleled personal shopping experience, died of natural causes in Manhattan on Saturday. She was 96 years old.

With her keen eye, impeccable taste, wit and clear, matter-of-fact manner, she charmed the many prominent and wealthy buyers she regularly met, as well as her colleagues, and was considered an institution at Bergdorf Goodman. Halbreich was a Chicago native and also a best-selling author.

“Our mother led a captivating life, most of which was spent in her favorite place in the world, at her desk at Bergdorf Goodman – her room with a view, where she made witty remarks and offered those BG tea sandwiches to anyone who graced her office,” her children, Kathy Halbreich and John Halbreich, said in a joint statement Saturday. “From the young lawyer taking a case to court for the first time to outfitting someone for an incredible gala evening, she took immense pride in dressing women and helping them achieve their dreams. Despite all the glitz and glamour, she was not demanding – she was both a realist and a romantic. You didn’t have to be famous or a billionaire to get into Betty’s circle of care and advice. We will all miss her wisdom, her sometimes biting humor and her passion.”

“Betty was truly one of a kind. You never knew who you would meet when you stopped by Betty’s office,” said Mallory Andrews, Bergdorf’s former senior vice president of marketing, promotions and public relations. “I remember one December seeing Walter Cronkite, who was there to pick out his wife’s Christmas present, as he did every year. And then there was Joan Rivers, Betty Buckley, Lena Dunham and the list goes on. Bergdorf wouldn’t be the same without them.”

“Betty Halbreich shaped the history of Bergdorf Goodman, her second home for 48 years, in countless ways,” said Darcy Penick, president of Bergdorf Goodman. “Fearless and ever curious, she changed not only the way her customers viewed clothing, but also the way they viewed themselves. She was larger than life, unparalleled in every way, and forever shaped the fabric of our culture at Bergdorf Goodman.”

In her book, I’ll Drink to That: A Life in Style, With a Twist, published ten years ago, Halbreich wrote candidly about the challenges of her life: a broken marriage, a nervous breakdown and suicide attempt, the difficulties of motherhood, overcoming polio and then cancer. Of course, fashion is a common thread running through all of this.

After recovering from her breakdown, she worked in a number of designer showrooms on Seventh Avenue, including Geoffrey Beene. In 1976, she joined Bergdorf’s as a sales associate. At her suggestion, the store set up a personal shopping office for her. Bergdorf Goodman, part of the Neiman Marcus Group, continues to enjoy one of the best reputations in retail for generous, personal service.

In an interview with WWD at the time of the book launch, Halbreich said America’s casualization had gone too far, and she recalled more stylish eras. “We dressed up – it’s different. You went to El Morocco on a Saturday night and tipped the head waiter lavishly to get a table. You didn’t think about going out undressed. If you went to a store – say Bonwit Teller or Lord & Taylor – you dressed up,” she said. “You didn’t walk around in shorts or tight white pants. That’s my new obsession. I hate white pants. Have you noticed that everyone walks around in tight white pants – large, medium, small? They’re so awful. I can’t wait for people to put their coats back on in the winter and hide all that provocation.”

Halbreich also wrote a memoir, “Secrets of a Fashion Therapist,” which offers a revealing look into her extraordinary career and life. She was introduced to an even wider audience in 2013 through the documentary “Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf Goodman,” a tribute to the luxury retailer. Her third book, “No One Has Seen It All,” will be released in April 2025, according to Bergdorf’s.

Halbreich would never push anything on her clients or favor a particular label or designer. Instead, she instinctively assessed her customers and put together the outfit that she thought would suit them best. “I call them patients. They open up to me like a therapist,” she once told WWD. “It’s very difficult to describe what I do.”

During her long tenure at Bergdorf Goodman, Halbreich earned praise from fashion designers, celebrities and loyal customers for her determined and honest approach to clothing, starting with her first client, style icon Babe Paley. When Halbreich first applied to Bergdorf, management put her in a test with Paley to see if she could sell Paley. She showed Paley some dresses and stumbled on one. But she got the job for $200 a week. Paley, she said in an interview, was “extraordinarily beautiful with wonderful black hair with a white streak. So you can be beautiful and nice at the same time.”

Halbreich has worked with some of the world’s most famous names, including Meryl Streep, Lena Dunham, Liza Minnelli, Lauren Bacall, Susan Lucci and Jane Pauley.

“I taught Candice Bergen how to walk in high heels,” she once told WWD. Paley and Farrah Fawcett were among those she enjoyed working with the most. She found it easier to decide what people should wear than to decide what to buy for herself at the supermarket. “The only thing I know is how to adjust a dress if it’s supposed to fit someone. That’s a gift.”

She said Christmas shopping with Cronkite was a highlight. “He was colorblind. He was the sweetest person. People would hear his voice and turn around on the ground floor because it was so unique.”

Yet, with her Midwestern roots and values, she has embraced all walks of life, not just Hollywood and Broadway stars. Yet her collaborations with costume designer Patricia Field on the television series “Sex and the City,” as a style consultant on several Woody Allen films, and with stage and film costume designer William Ivey Long, among others, have helped create some iconic fashion moments in the entertainment industry.

Halbreich was averse to email and relied more on a landline than her cellphone. As previously reported in WWD, early in her career she routinely handed off sales to other employees to avoid working the cash register, a practice that annoyed Geoffrey Beene, who ran his boutique on the second floor of Bergdorf’s. “I just stood there and told people how to dress,” Halbreich told WWD.

She continued working until recently and, according to Bergdorf employees, never officially retired.

In addition to her daughter Kathy and son John, Halbreich is survived by grandchildren Henry Kohring, Gillian Halbreich and Hannah Halbreich. Details of a memorial service will be announced at a later date.