While today’s style makers jet to Dakar and Bhutan for inspiration, Millicent Rogers, a dashing, thrice-married New York City socialite and designer, moved to Taos in 1947 on a tip from a friend, Hollywood actress Janet Gaynor.

Rogers brought her eye for style with her, adopting Navajo-style velvet broomstick skirts and belts and donning pounds of turquoise-and-silver jewelry for photo spreads in Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.

Though she died just six years after she moved, in 1953 at the age of 51, she managed to accumulate a fantastic amount of stuff.

Her namesake museum (1504 Millicent Rogers Rd., 575/758-2462, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. daily Apr.–Oct., 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Tues.–Sun. Nov.–Mar., $10) was established by her son, Paul Peralta-Ramos, and is set in the warren of adobe rooms that make up her former home. It reflects her discerning taste, with flawless pieces of pottery, rugs, and jewelry—both local works and her own designs. Peralta-Ramos contributes his own growing collection, including beautiful pieces of Hispano devotional art.

Aside from the individual beauty of the works, they also make up an excellent broad introduction to the artisanal work of the area, from ancient times to modern. Look for the beautiful black-on-black pottery of María Martinez, santos by Patrocinio Barela, and fine examples of the distinctive colchaembroidered rug style.

But it’s not all rooted in local culture: Rogers’s goofy illustrations of a fairy tale for her children fill the last room. The gift shop here is particularly thorough and includes beautiful (though pricey) vintage jewelry and very old rugs.

Museum Pass

The Museum Association of Taos (www.taosmuseums.org) manages five museums in town, the Taos Art Museum at Fechin House, the Millicent Rogers Museum, the Harwood Museum of Art, the Ernest L. Blumenschein Home and Museum, and the La Hacienda de los Martinez. At any of the museums, you can buy a $25 pass, valid for a year, that grants you a single admission to all five. With individual admissions costing $8 or more, it can be worth it if you visit three places.