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When Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy moved into the White
House 40 years ago, she professed amazement that people were so
interested in what she wore. They weren't just interested, they
were infatuated with her fashion sense.
Sleeveless dresses became all-season wear. Pillbox
hats and coats with three-quarter-length sleeves were everywhere.
So were pearls and plain pumps. Although this former first lady
received accolades for her dedication to the arts and restoration
of the White House to historic monument status, she's more likely
to be remembered for her wardrobe, one that influenced fashion worldwide.
A collection of her clothes from the White House
years is expected to bring a record-breaking number of visitors
to the Costume Institute of New York's Metropolitan Museum now through
July 29, to see more than 80 garments she wore between 1959 and
1963. U The opening gala on April 23 raised at least $3 million
for the institute (a record-setting sum) and attracted everyone
from Kennedy family members to first ladies past and present.
For those who can't be in New York City this summer
to view the brilliantly colored, body-skimming styles she favored,
three new books have hit the market, books devoted to what she wore
and why. They disclose how she preferred raised waistlines that
made her legs look longer, hot pinks, vibrant greens and yellows
that made her stand out in a crowd, and how Oleg Cassini became
her "official" White House designer. (Cassini was a friend of her
father-in-law, the late Joseph Kennedy - the man who paid most of
her clothing bills.)
All three books contain similar information. All
are lavishly illustrated, but "Jackie: The Clothes of Camelot" by
Jay Mulvaney (St. Martin's Press, 194 pages, £21.87 through amazon.co.uk)
is a favorite. This picture book with minimal text is a quick read.
It also has more candid photographs than the other volumes. Only
the foreword by social profiler Dominick Dunne gives a bit of background
detail. "It is through her clothes, of all things, that we came
to know her best. They are a shortcut, a visual clue to her persona
and personality," Dunne wrote.
The world has seen thousands of photos of this 20th-century
icon, almost all of them featuring silhouettes that appeared sleek
and simple. She had a highly developed sense of style - sticking
close to specific shapes and colors. But like every woman, she had
her off moments, flirting with fashions that were out of character,
not especially flattering. Mulvaney discreetly placed them in some
of the last pages labeled "Some Mishaps." These are photos that
have been buried somewhere for years. It's this chapter that sets
Mulvaney's book apart, makes the reader think "Ah ha! She wasn't
perfect."
Pressure from the millinery industry, for example,
made hats a necessity. And Jackie, as she was called by the masses,
hated them. No wonder. They led to some of her worst fashion moments:
A gold pillbox adorned with a winglike attachment and a tassel looks
silly. So does the lumberjack plaid cloche. Then there's a three-tier
dress with a tulip-shaped skirt and shoulder pads showing through
sheer chiffon. It manages to, horror of horrors, make her look plump.
A gingham evening gown with bell sleeves makes you wonder "what
was she thinking?"
It's these photos that show us the queen of Camelot
occasionally had more than a bad hair day. Her hair, in fact, was
troublesome. It tended to curl and frizz. Her bouffant hair styles
didn't respond well to hats - one reason she favored cloches worn
on the back of her head so they wouldn't crush the hair around her
face.
"Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years," is
both the name of the museum exhibition and title of a book edited
by Hamish Bowles (Bullfinch, 198 pages, £31.24 through amazon.co.uk)
that accompanies it. This coffee-table book features full-page color
photos, one garment per page, of some of her most trend-setting
styles. That means you can see that there are at least 24 tiny silk
tassels fringing the knotted sash on a satin evening gown, or study
the way a pocket was cut, almost invisibly, into a cropped top.
Color photos of these costumes being worn in the
White House or on state occasions, are shown on an adjoining page
so the reader can see what a dress looked like in a receiving line,
and how it appears in the museum, for example. The large photos
also reveal construction details of Kennedy dresses that appear
to be simple. They're actually intricately cut and sewn with many
pieces of fabric, carefully placed darts, inner-facings and elaborate
buttons and trims- details that add up to very expensive garments.
There's a chapter devoted to the hats she loathed, and four pages
of her riding clothes including a riding coat that was probably
a hand-me-down from her mother.
"Jackie Style" by Pamela Clarke Keogh (HarperCollins,
256 pages, £28.12 through amazon.co.uk) is more of a biography with
an emphasis on apparel. From childhood riding gear to jeans, White
House chic to the Carolina Herrera evening gowns she favored later
in life, Jackie's fashion path is traced. Most of the early photos
are in black and white, so her love of bright, strong colors isn't
always apparent.
This book even includes four sketches, complete
with step-by-step directions for achieving "the Jackie look" with
makeup: the "Camelot" face; "Scorpios,"a look created with bronzer
and sheer gold eye shadow; her "Editor-in-Chief" business makeup;
and the "Fifth Avenue" or very natural look.
Following the exhibit's opening gala in New York,
Women's Wear Daily reported a succinct comment from one of the guests:
"I have a theory that when Kennedy got elected, Jackie decided to
be Audrey Hepburn," said Tiffany Dubin. It's no coincidence that
Givenchy, the designer who dressed Hepburn, was a favorite of the
late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. And the books make it clear that
he inspired many of the White House era clothes that were made for
her.
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