Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
An Enduring Icon
By Mali Bria
Table of Contents:
Who was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis?
2
The Pink Suit
3
The Assassination
4
A Tragic and Silent Icon
5
A Tragic Icon
6-7
Silent Icon
8
Andy Warhol Prints
9
A Fashion Icon
10 - 12
Jackie-esque Fashion Today
13
Sources:
14 - 15
1
H u ffi n g t o n po s t .c o m
First offcial White House
photograph of the
First Lady Jackie Kennedy,
Washington DC, 1961
Who was
Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis?
Jackie and
John F. Kennedy,
1959.
theredlist.com
Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis was the First Lady
of the United States and wife
of President of the United States John F. Kennedy
durring his presidency from
1961 until his assassination
in 1963. In 1968 Jackie married Aristotle Onassis.
From the time Jackie was the First Lady until she died from cancer in
May 1994, people around
the world admired her as an
icon, which continues today.
Jackie is linked with
her husband JFK’s assassination because she was sitting next to him as he was
fatally shot and Jackie was
then coverd in his blood.
The assassination is argued
the day Jackie became a
tragic icon.
As Jackie was in the
public eye, America took
note on the clothing she
wore. Jackie brought Parisian couture to America, then quickly became a
trendmaker because of her
fashion choices. Jackie’s style
is also considered to what
made her fashion icon.
Jackie’s ability to remain silent also helped her
as an icon. Jackie never
spoke of JFK’s affairs, his
assassination or her battle
with cancer. Jackie always
remained a silent icon.
2
Jackie had a prefrence for wearing
Parisian Couture. Some of her favorite designers included Channel,
Dior, Lanvin, Cardin, Givenchy, and
Balenciaga.
While Jackie was unveiling Parisian fashion to American women,
she was receiving negative criticism.
Pat Nixon, wife of Richard Nixon,
who was running against John F.
Kennedy for president, said that she
had doubts about Jackie’s patriotism.
Along with other criticism from the
media, Jackie decided to have U.S
designers, like Oleg Cassini and Chez
Ninon, re-make Parisian
couture for her.
The most famsous copies of
Parisian couture is a Chez Nion’s pink
wool suit. It was an authorized copy
of a Chanel pink boucle suit trimmed
with a navy blue collar made in 1961.
Jackie has worn the pink suit at least
six time between 1961-1963.
life.time.com
Above: Jackie and JFK arriving in Dallas, Texas the day
of the assassination.
Below: Chanel's original pink wool suit.
life.time.com
The
Pink
Suit
3
life.time.com
life.time.com
The
Assassination
Jackie and
John F. Kennedy
greeting people
the day of his
assassination.
“Let them see what they’ve done. I want them
On November 22, 1963, Chez Ninon’s
to see.” It was not until Jackie got back to
pink wool suit became part of history. It was
Washington D.C. early the next morning after
the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated
her husband’s death that she took off her pink
while driving in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas
suit to give to her mother, who put it in a box
with Jackie sitting right next to him, while she
to store in her home and inscribed “Novemwas wearing her pink suit. Hours before the
ber 22, 1963” on the box top.
assassination, JFK asked Jackie to wear her
Today, Jackie’s pink suit is in
pink suit for him, because it was one
the National Archives hidden away
of his favorites. President Kennedy
“Let
them
from public view. The suit is still
said that Jackie looked “smashing” in
un-cleaned with the blood stains
her pink suit. Within seconds Jackie see what
remaining and stored in a temin the pink suit “became universal- they’ve
perature and humidity controlled
ly recognizable, the quintessential,
done.
I
and shielded from sunlight room.
blood-spattered relic of assassination…The pink suit is central to how want them The pink pillbox hat and her white
gloves went missing immediatethe assassination is remembered.”
to
see.”
ly after the assassination. Jackie’s
The pictures of Jackie that foldaughter, Caroline Kennedy, gave
lowed the assassination became engrthe pink suit to the National Archives and
aved in people’s minds as it flashed on televisigned an agreement with the Archives that her
sions, newspapers, and magazines. Jackie remother’s suit will be off limits from the public
fused to take off her suit that was splattered
until 2103. The Kennedy family believes that
with JFK’s blood as she went to the hospital
the suit would cause stress for the nation and
and when Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as
requested strict enforcement of keeping the
president. As her aides strongly encouraged
pink suit from public view.
Jackie to take off her suit, she adamantly re-
4
A
Tragic
and
Silent
Icon
life.time.com
Jackie with her children Caroline and
John F. Kennedy Jr. and JFK’s mother
behind waiting outside St. Mathew's
for procession to cemetery.
"It was
on the day
of the
assassination
that her image
became
engraved
on our
souls.”
5
Jackie still wearing the
bloodstained suit as
Lydon B. Johnson is
being sworn in as the
President of the
United States.
nypost.com
A
Tragic
Icon
November 22, 1963 is argued the day
that Jackie became an icon. The day of JFK’s
assassination, “her transformation to a symbol
for the nation was virtually instantaneous.”
The images of Jackie in her bloodstained suit
standing by Lyndon B. Johnson on Air Force
one as he was sworn in as President of the
United States of America to other images of
her in silence are profoundly histroic. She was
photographed everywhere but remained silent except to tell the press when she refused
to change her clothes. Writer, Joan Smith says
“that the most telling point about the iconization (sic) of Jackie Kennedy is that her image is
in extricably linked with grief…
6
It was on the day of the assassination that ‘her
image became engraved on our souls.’” Jackie became an icon with in seconds because
her husband’s blood was splattered on her.
Smith says that to be an icon you have to have
tragedy and grief. Smith says that the “harsh
truth” is that “we like our icons best when they
are in distress.” She notes that icons’ “unhappiness is the crucial equalising (sic) factor
which disables the darker emotions which
rich, famous, and seemingly powerful women might otherwise stir up - envy , fear, anger.
Movie stars and supermodels come and go,
but none of them achieving the potent mix of
beauty, silence, and suffering which have set
Jackie apart.
nypost.com
Jackie wearing the
bloodstained suit with
her brother-in-law
Robert Kennedy, as JFK
is placed into the
ambulance after the
assassination.
7
life.time.com
A Silent Icon
Writer Joan Smith recognizes
Jackie’s attribute of silence was her
greatest strength and why she gains
public admiration. Smith states that
the “rule for aspirant female icons is
as unbending as ever: say nothing.”
Jackie never spoke of her husband’s
assassination, his affairs with other
women, or her own battle with cancer. She gave two interviews during
her life, which cannot be released
until 2067. Although Jackie’s iconization is directly attached to grief,
Jackie’s silence also must be noted as a great strength. Her silence
and constant desire to not be photographed and out of the public view
Jackie’s silence
also must be noted
as a great strength.
as much as possible provided her
with a special mystique and mystery
that drove the public (and her style
admirers) to even more consider her
an icon. This is in direct contrast
with today’s “wanna-be” icons, like
the Kardashians, reality TV stars,
and pop culture stars, who are striving to be as public as possible with
posting “self-ies” on Instagram and
tweeting what they are doing all day.
Jackie and
Robert Kennedy
at JFK's funeral,
Arlington Cemetery,
November 25, 1963.
8
Andy WarholPrints
Red Jackie
The red color is the
reminder of JFK’s blood
“showered” on Jackie,
which is a “cruel mockery
Jackie Triptych
Which are three photos
of Jackie at JFK’s Funeral.
walkingollie.wordpress.com
artnet.com
aaronartprint.org
Only after Jackie
became a widow,
artist Andy Warhol
started to depict
Jackie in his artwork.
Jackie III
A four-framed silkscreen
that Jackie is transformed
from a happy wife to a
widow.
9
A Fashion
Icon
Jackie was a "trendmaker,
because whatever Jackie
wore, the rest of America
wore-and is still wearing."
instyle.com
Jackie on her first day in
India during her trip to India
and Pakistan,1962.
10
nypost.com
Jac kie w e a r i n g a
yell o w c o a t with
lar ge b u t t o n s,
sta n din g a si d e
f ro m JF K 1 9 6 1 .
Fashion critic Samantha Critchell
says that Jackie was a “trendmaker, because
whatever Jackie wore, the rest of America wore-and is still wearing.” Women wanted Jackie’s look and style. According to Pamela Clarke Keogh (author of Jackie Style),
Jackie is a trendmaker because she took very
few missteps. Critchell states that Jackie’s
instyle.com
Huffingtonpost.com
theredlist.com
instyle.com
J acki e i n a
apri cot Oleg
C assi ni dress
i n Udai pur,
Indi a, 1 96 2.
Ja cki e w e a r i ng
a cl a s s i c
s ha pe d dr e s s
w i th pe a r l s , 1961
J ac k ie w earin g
a p il l b ox h at an d
s t an d -aw ay
n ec k l in e c oat 1 9 6 0
J ac k ie w earin g
a y el l ow c l as s ic
s h ap ed d res s ed
w it h g ol d
earin g s . 1 9 6 0 s .
Jackie’s “style is enduring because she wore
classic shapes.”
Jackie knew what clothes worked for her:
“the stand-away neckline on her coats and suits
worked with her wide face and dark hair. Ditto
for the big buttons she was quite emphatic’ about
because they were in proportion with her face.”
11
An iconic look of Jackie’s was her sunglasses. “Onassis glasses or Jackie O’s are very
large sunglasses. The glasses continue to be
popular with women and celebrities.”
Jackie knew how to make every day garments look extraordinary. Jackie could take a
“man’s button-down shirt tied in a knot at the
waist and paired with capri pants was a fashion state-ment.” Jackie could take clothes that
anyone had and make it look extraordinary.
Jackie also liked to pair her outfits with
simple accessories, like a pillbox hat, scarf,
small jewelry, or sunglasses.
Right: Jackie wearing her Jackie O
sunglasses at La Cote Basque
Resturant in New York City, 1969.
instyle.com
Huffingtonpost.com
Left: Jackie wearing a simple outfit
paired with sunglasses while in
Rome, Italy, 1966 with her childeren.
12
destinationkors.michaelkors.com
www.vogue.com
www.vanityfair.com
Huffingtonpost.com
Jackie-esque
Fashion Today
Jackie’s Style is still relevant
today as seen on First Lady,
Michelle Obama (above)
wearing a simple classic
shaped black dress with
pearls. Kate Middelton,
Duchess of Cambridge
(far left) also wearing two
of Jackie’s iconic looks: A
pillbox hat and large buttons on stand away neckline coat while holding
her son, Prince George of
Cambridge. During fall
2014 of New York Fashion Week, Micheal Kors
showed an Jackie-esque
13
jacket.
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