First Lady 1961-1963, the 'Jackie' look and Oleg Cassini's wardrobe — style, elegance and grace
Jacqueline Lee 'Jackie' Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis; they remained married until his death in 1975. For the final two decades of her life, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis had a career as a book editor. She is remembered for her contributions to the arts and preservation of historic architecture, her style, elegance, and grace. She was a fashion icon; her famous pink Chanel suit has become a symbol of her husband's assassination and one of the lasting images of the 1960s. She retained French-born American fashion designer and Kennedy family friend Oleg Cassini in the fall of 1960 to create an original wardrobe for her as First Lady. From 1961 to late 1963, Cassini dressed her in many of her most iconic ensembles, including her Inauguration Day fawn coat and Inaugural gala gown, as well as many outfits for her visits to Europe, India, and Pakistan. In her first year in the White House, Kennedy spent $45,446 more on fashion than the $100,000 annual salary her husband earned as president, which he donated to charity. Her clean suits with a skirt hem down to the middle of the knee, three-quarter sleeves on notch-collar jackets, sleeveless A-line dresses, above-the-elbow gloves, low-heel pumps, and famous pillbox hats were overnight successes around the world and quickly became known as the 'Jackie' look. Although Cassini was her primary designer, she also wore ensembles by French fashion legends such as Chanel, Givenchy, and Dior, and more than any other First Lady her style was copied by commercial manufacturers and a large segment of young women. Her influential bouffant hairstyle was created by Kenneth, whom she had been seeing since 1954 and who continued to style her hair until 1986. In later years her style changed dramatically: wide-leg pantsuits, large lapel jackets, gypsy skirts, silk Hermès head scarves, large round dark sunglasses, jeans in public, and beltless white jeans with a black turtleneck pulled down over the hips. Her jewelry included a triple-strand pearl necklace designed by American jeweler Kenneth Jay Lane, the ruby-and-diamond 'berry brooch' designed by Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co. and given to her by her husband days before his January 1961 inauguration, Schlumberger's gold and enamel bracelets — which the press called 'Jackie bracelets' — and a Van Cleef & Arpels wedding ring given to her by President Kennedy, her sentimental favorite.
Jacqueline Lee "Jackie" Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994), was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis; they remained married until his death in 1975. For the final two decades of her life, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis had a career as a book editor. She is remembered for her contributions to the arts and preservation of historic architecture, her style, elegance, and grace. She was a fashion icon; her famous pink Chanel suit has become a symbol of her husband's assassination and one of the lasting images of the 1960s. Jacqueline Kennedy became a symbol of fashion for women worldwide. She retained French-born American fashion designer and Kennedy family friend Oleg Cassini in the fall of 1960 to create an original wardrobe for her as First Lady. From 1961 to late 1963, Cassini dressed her in many of her most iconic ensembles, including her Inauguration Day fawn coat and Inaugural gala gown, as well as many outfits for her visits to Europe, India, and Pakistan. In her first year in the White House, Kennedy spent $45,446 more on fashion than the $100,000 annual salary her husband earned as president (He donated the annual salary to charity). Her clean suits with a skirt hem down to middle of the knee, three-quarter sleeves on notch-collar jackets, sleeveless A-line dresses, above-the-elbow gloves, low-heel pumps, and famous pillbox hats were overnight successes around the world and quickly became known as the "Jackie" look. Although Cassini was her primary designer, she also wore ensembles by French fashion legends such as Chanel, Givenchy, and Dior. More than any other First Lady her style was copied by commercial manufacturers and a large segment of young women. Her influential bouffant hairstyle, described as a "grown-up exaggeration of little girls' hair", was created by Kenneth, whom she had been seeing since 1954, and who continued to style her hair until 1986.
In the years after the White House, her style changed dramatically. Gone were the modest "campaign wife" clothes. Wide-leg pantsuits, large lapel jackets, gypsy skirts, silk Hermès head scarves, and large, round, dark sunglasses became her new look. She often chose to wear brighter colors and patterns and even began wearing jeans in public. Beltless, white jeans with a black turtleneck, never tucked in, but pulled down over the hips, was another fashion trend that she set.
Throughout her lifetime, Kennedy acquired a large collection of exquisite and priceless jewelry. Her triple-strand pearl necklace designed by American jeweler Kenneth Jay Lane became her signature piece of jewelry during her time as First Lady in the White House. Often referred to as the "berry brooch", the two-fruit cluster brooch of strawberries made of rubies with stems and leaves of diamonds, designed by French jeweler Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co., was personally selected and given to her by her husband several days prior to his inauguration in January 1961. Kennedy wore Schlumberger's gold and enamel bracelets so frequently in the early and mid-1960s that the press called them "Jackie bracelets"; she also favored his white enamel and gold "banana" earrings. Kennedy wore jewelry designed by Van Cleef & Arpels throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s; her sentimental favorite was the Van Cleef & Arpels wedding ring given to her by President Kennedy.
The scale of the White House wardrobe effort is in the numbers: in her first year as First Lady, Kennedy spent $45,446 more on fashion than the $100,000 annual salary her husband earned as president. The return on that effort was a single, coherent public style — the 'Jackie' look — which commercial manufacturers copied for a large segment of young women more than for any other First Lady. Cassini remained her primary designer through late 1963, dressing her for the Inauguration, the gala, and state visits to Europe, India and Pakistan, but the French houses — Chanel, Givenchy, Dior — supplied the other half of the image, and the pink Chanel suit became one of the lasting images of the 1960s.
The later wardrobe is as distinctive as the first, and deliberately different: gone were the modest 'campaign wife' clothes, replaced by wide-leg pantsuits, large lapel jackets, gypsy skirts, silk Hermès head scarves and large round dark sunglasses, with jeans worn in public and beltless white jeans with a black turtleneck as another trend she set. The bouffant hairstyle created by Kenneth — her hairdresser from 1954 to 1986 — bridged both eras. Marriage to Aristotle Onassis in 1968 and a final two decades working as a book editor complete the life, but it is the two wardrobes that secure the fashion icon standing this page records. Readers who enjoy Jackie Kennedy will also find Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn linked here as fellow fashion icons.
She retained French-born American fashion designer and Kennedy family friend Oleg Cassini in the fall of 1960 to create an original wardrobe for her as First Lady; from 1961 to late 1963, Cassini dressed her in many of her most iconic ensembles, including her Inauguration Day fawn coat and Inaugural gala gown. She also wore ensembles by Chanel, Givenchy, and Dior.
Clean suits with a skirt hem down to the middle of the knee, three-quarter sleeves on notch-collar jackets, sleeveless A-line dresses, above-the-elbow gloves, low-heel pumps, and famous pillbox hats — overnight successes around the world that quickly became known as the 'Jackie' look.
Her triple-strand pearl necklace designed by Kenneth Jay Lane, the ruby 'berry brooch' by Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co., Schlumberger's gold and enamel bracelets — called 'Jackie bracelets' by the press — and the Van Cleef & Arpels wedding ring given to her by President Kennedy.
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