THE ICONIC STYLE OF JACKIE KENNEDY~THE FIRST LADY OF FASHION

For her effortless elegance and graceful style, she was known as the First Lady of Fashion and still heralded today as an American Style Icon. For her to be considered a Style Icon means she had an influencing Signature Look.

Jacqueline Kennedy, widely known as Jackie Kennedy was born Jacqueline Lee Bouvier on 28 July 1929 and she was the First Lady of the United States of America (USA) from 20 January 1961 to 22 November 1963. She is remembered as the most influential and admired First Lady in American history and is also known throughout for her poise, intelligence and style.

Jackie graduated from George Washington University in 1951 and took a job as a reporter-photographer at the Washington Times-Herald.

It was in this same year and on her reporting duties, she met John F. Kennedy then a popular congressman from Massachusetts. In her job as a reporter, she notably covered the 1952 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

On 12th September 1953 in Newport Rhode Island, she married John F. Kennedy (JFK) in a traditionally classically styled wedding dress. A silk taffeta full skirt ball gown with a boat neck off shoulder and thick straps which was slightly V at the neck, one of the biggest trends in bridal fashion in the 1950s, designed and made by Ann Lowe, the first widely recognized African American fashion designer.

Jackie, fluent in Spanish and French, having studied the language during her undergraduate studies, both in the US and in France, contributed enormously to JFK’s Senate re-election campaign in 1958 and subsequently the presidential campaign in 1960. She taped short speeches in French, Spanish and Italian encouraging voters to support her husband. In her continuous contribution to her husband’s campaign, she wrote “Campaign Wife” a weekly news column, as she was no longer able to join JFK on his campaigns due to pregnancy complications and on the advice of doctors to stay at home.

She always had an easy elegance about her, in 1961 when JFK was sworn in as the 35th President of the United States of America, she wore her Signature Look, a beige coat dress, Halston pill box hat, elbow length gloves and a pair of low heels for the inauguration ceremony.

Her appearance in a large pillbox hat for the swearing-in ceremony dominated the news, which began a popular millinery style. Her look then went a long way to become a trend in the 1960s.

To the gala the night before JFK’s inauguration, fashion designer Oleg Cassini created a custom outfit of a short-sleeved ivory silk satin evening gown. Again, for the JFK presidential inauguration dinner she wore a strapless gown showed well her physique and was considered a daring move in the 1960s.

During her time as First Lady, she decided to give the White House a Historic Makeover. She spearheaded several projects to restore, renovate and preserve all the public rooms in the white house. This earned her a special award of Television Arts & Trustees Award at the Emmy Awards later that year. She also established the White House as a museum and enlisted the help of various Art Collectors and Designers who furnished the White House with American art and antique furniture. She used her position to champion Arts and Literature.

Fashion in the 1950s, included large skirts and petticoats made of yards and yards of fabric, however Jackie’s 1960s couture style was easier to imitate and at affordable price. Her look was minimal, modern, ladylike and always paired down with simple accessories.

She was the only first lady that has been so well loved on every continent and she was like royalty wherever she went. She also embraced foreign designs like Chanel, Dior and Givenchy though Oleg Cassini was her official in White house wardrobe designer. Jackie often sketched designs for her clothing as First Lady and was not only admired by her nationals but also drew international attention. Her style as a First Lady was copied by commercial manufacturers and a large segment of young women. She wore her signature look for her meet-up lunch with Queen Elizabeth in March 1962.

She had a chic, classy, bold yet simple style. Her official and formal look were well tailored skirt set (suit), paired with pillbox hat, white gloves and pearls, a double or triple strand pearl necklace. She favored several A-Line silhouette knee length sheath dress and stand-away collar, with style and glamour expressed through its oversized pockets and buttons. Her outfit were often monochromatic and in bright, bold colours of daffodil yellow, ivory, peach, pale blue, siren red, pale orange and pink.

For her casual looks, she had on simple A-Line shift dress in pastel shades and playful pattern with flats and pearls. She also often wore tees on a pair of trousers, paired with silk headscarf and giant sunglasses. She loved a monochromatic look, especially All White Everything.

Her hairstyle was a bouffant coif ‘do’, which was an integral part of her signature look. Her hair was style by Kenneth Battelle, the famed hairdresser to the stars, who also styled Marilyn Monroe. The choice of colours for her outfit complemented her dark hair. Also, she was quite tall, hence her preference for low heeled pumps were the best choice.

She popularized the pillbox hats, oversized black sunglasses, elbow length gloves, strapless gown, tailored coats / jackets, A-Line dresses, simple jewelry mostly pearls, low heels, bows, mini bags and strapless gowns in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Jackie seemed to have set the standard for how an entire generation of American women looked, dressed and behaved. Hamish Bowles, a European editor-at-large at Vogue remarked that, Jackie influenced the way a generation wanted to look, dress and behave and further provided a visual metaphor for the youth. Jackie Kennedy’s style still shapes the way women dress today.

On the day November 22, 1963, while accompanying her husband to Texas on one of the political appearances, as the president’s motorcade moved through Dallas, her husband JFK was assassinated as she sat beside him. That day she wore a strawberry pink and navy trim collared Chanel wool suit, a matching pillbox hat and navy low heels. Halston, was a milliner in Bergdorf Goodman’s millinery in the 1960, who created her iconic pillbox hats including ones for inauguration and assassination.

Jackie refused to change her outfit which was covered in her husband’s blood for the rest of the day, it was said Jackie left her bloody suit on to ‘let them see what they have done’, while she stood by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson to be sworn in as 36th President of the United States of America. The now former First Lady had always understood the power of imagery to convey messages, and anyone who saw the pictures then or later of the swearing-in ceremony will know and remember the slain president. This created a powerful and devastating image for the public while also reflecting her personal trauma. Her pink Chanel suit still blood-stained, and its accessories is now preserved in a vault by the National Archives, USA. The famous artifact captures the heartbreaking incidence of the day, blinding the glamour that preceded it.

After the tragic assassination of her husband JFK in 1963, she moved to New York to focus on raising her two children, Caroline Bouvier Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr., there she dressed less formally wearing more of tailored trousers, culottes, polo-necks and classic trench coats as she had left office, however she held on to her Style Staples like tailored coats and long gloves. Five years later she married Aristotle Onassis, a Greek shipping magnate in October 1968.

In the late 1970s, widowed again, Jackie put effort and focus into a career as consulting editor at Viking Press while maintaining her interest in arts, and adopting the businesswoman style to match the new status.

She died in her New York Apartment at the age of 64 on 19 May 1994, soon after a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery alongside President Kennedy.

Her style as First Lady Jackie Kennedy was graceful & diplomatic and her style as Jackie O was elegant, classic & timeless. A woman of pristine glamour and refined opulence, it is hard to find a fashion designer who has not been inspired by “Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis”.

QUOTE by Jackie Kennedy ~ Once you can express yourself, you can tell the world what you want from it.