Go To Home Page About Retro Gran Topics I Write About Other Places You Can Find Me Image Map

Monday, July 22, 2013

Jacqueline Kennedy - Fashion Icon



It's no surprise that Jackie Kennedy is often cited as a style icon. She loved to wear designers such as Oleg Cassini, Coco Chanel, Hubert de Givenchy and Christian Dior. In August 1961, Vogue Magazine’s retrospective of the American look said of Mrs. Kennedy style: "dashing enough to capture notice, and unobtrusive enough that the wearer outshone her garments." Her own personal fashion icon was Audrey Hepburn, and you can see much of that flavor in Jackie's style.

Jackie Kennedy Audrey Hepburn

In the 50's and 60's, Jackie's daywear generally consisted of simple sleeveless dresses or pastel suits, paired with her signature pillbox hat, white gloves, and pearls or brooches. Or you might find her in high waisted trousers and a blouse, turtleneck or cashmere sweater. She usually completed her daywear with her black, oversized sunglasses.

Jackie Kennedy pastel suits

For eveningwear, Jackie's style was generally a sleeveless look in a single color with a rounded or bateau neckline as well as long sheath dresses. She also loved backless or off-the shoulder gowns. Her shoes and accessories would always match her evening apparel perfectly. A pair of white gloves was another signature accessory.

Jackie Kennedy evening gowns

While traveling to foreign countries, Jackie would dress accordingly to complement the customs of her host nation. When visiting India, her style was more conservative than what she would wear to an American event. It's this quality that helped foster Jackie's classic and classy sense of style and drew infatuation from people all over the world.

Jackie Kennedy blue dress New Delhi
First Lady Jackie Kennedy in blue dress and hat walking with 
Indian Prime Minister Jawarhalal Nehru in the garden of his residence in New Delhi. 

Jackie Kennedy Oleg Cassini apricot dress India
Jackie Kennedy at the Palace of the Maharajah in Udaipur, India during a state visit, 
wearing a fitted silk apricot dress by designer Oleg Cassini 


Into the 70's, her style continued to evolve and she adopted a sportier look. In the daytime she began wearing wide leg trousers or flowing skirts, solids or striped shirts, fitted t-shirts and black turtlenecks, silk scarves and espadrilles. She loved the look of black on top and white on the bottom. And, as always, her signature sunglasses.

Jackie Kennedy Onassis sporty style

For the evenings she wore draped, solid or patterned, glamorous gowns.

Jackie Onassis evening wear

Designer,Valentino, said this of Jackie: 'Her style was always a great inspiration for my work. She had this inner quality to make elegant the simplest dress, the most shabby raincoat, the oldest pair of slacks. Her way to wear a scarf, a pair of sunglasses, to choose a bag or shoes or go barefoot, or with a tiara was natural, she was not thinking twice, she knew by instinct.'

Jackie's style was revolutionary, youthful, modern, timeless and elegant and her fashion sense is still inspiring women around the world today.


Stay tuned for Part Five: How To Have Jackie's Style and if you missed Parts One through Four you can catch them by clicking on my Jackie button in the sidebar.

5 comments:

  1. One thing is for certain, whether Jackie is in pants or a evening gown, she always has a wonderful class and elegance she gives to her look.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fantastic post, dear Denise. I have enjoyed this Jackie series so immensely much. Oh my word, how I love that peach dress with the bow in the front. She looked so, so radiant in that warm colour - I'm surprised she didn't sport it more often.

    ♥ Jessica

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for picking out the time to discuss this, I feel great about it and love studying more on this topic. It is extremely helpful for me. Thanks for such a valuable help again. https://roycollections.com/eid-mehndi-designs/

    ReplyDelete
  4. A wide range of technologies, platforms and business solutions telecommunications IT Valley is a leading system integrator that provides
    http://www.itvalley.tech

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, and opinions. Please leave me a comment. I read every single one, even on older posts.

**Due to the amount of spam comments that I have been getting lately, I will no longer be accepting comments from Anonymous users. Sorry for the inconvenience but hopefully you understand.**