Jackie Kennedy Onassis, born Jacqueline Bouvier, has a signature style that’s been emulated for decades - from her pillbox hats to her Chanel suits.
As First Lady, she started fashion trends instead of following them. Soon, women all over America were emulating her style, including her white gloves and penchant for boat neck dresses with bows.
Jackie Kennedy’s fashion sense evolved after she left the White House. The formal attire gave way to 60s Jackie O, better known for her Hermès silk scarves paired with signature sunglasses.
Jacqueline Bouvier’s Long Island life
Before she became Jackie Kennedy, she was Jacqueline Bouvier, a Long Island debutante with a penchant for pretty dresses and pearls. She was born on July 28, 1929, in Southampton, New York. Young Jackie was as a noted equestrian, ballerina and avid reader.
She attended Miss Chapin’s School in Manhattan, where one of her teachers, Miss Platt, described her as "a darling child, the prettiest little girl, very clever, very artistic, and full of the devil."
She went to Vassar College, where she studied history, literature, art and French and spent her junior year abroad in Paris, developing a lifelong love of French couturiers. She finished her education at George Washington University and graduated 1951 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
After graduating, she became the "Inquiring Camera Girl" for the Washington Times-Herald newspaper, where she interviewed Richard Nixon and covered Eisenhower's inauguration.
Becoming Jackie Kennedy
Jackie met John F. Kennedy at a dinner party in May of 1952, when he was still a Congressman. They were introduced by their mutual friend, journalist Charles Bartlett. "I've never met anyone like her," he said after their first meeting.
She married JFK in 1953, wearing a classic boat neck wedding gown that was emulated by Meghan Markle. Her wedding dress was designed for $500 by little-known African American designer Anne Lowe after her first gown was ruined in a flood the week before her wedding.
She became First Lady in 1961 - although she hated that title.
“The one thing I do not want to be called is First Lady. It sounds like a saddle horse,” the former equestrian famously declared.
She said that during the election she was faced with people insulting her, including her hair. “You know, everybody thought I was a snob, and hated politics.”
"A newspaper reported that I spend $30,000 a year buying Paris clothes and that women hate me for it," she told The New York Times in 1960. "I couldn't spend that much unless I wore sable underwear,” she joked.
After being criticized for wearing French designers, she started working with Oleg Cassini, who eventually designed more than 300 of her ensembles, calling himself the “Secretary of Style.”
"The Jackie Look, or what I call the A-line look, created a worldwide impression of such dimension that she became the First Lady of the world. There wasn't one lady on the planet who didn't want to dress like her, comb their hair like her, walk and talk like her. And it was the first time an American designer could influence world trends,” Cassini said.
During her first year as First Lady, she reportedly spent $45,446 more than her husband’s $100k annual salary on clothing.
She also brought her keen eye for design to the White House, where she launched a massive restoration.
From shift dresses to Chanel suits
During John F. Kennedy’s presidency, Jackie was best known for her Cassini and Chanel suits. When the First Couple vacationed in Hyannis Port or Palm Beach, Jackie would opt for simple shift dresses, including ones by rising socialite fashion star Lilly Pulitzer.
But her most iconic looks came together when she paired her pillbox hat with a perfectly tailored suit and simple white gloves.
Hamish Bowles told The Metropolitan Museum of Art that Jackie Kennedy set the standard for how "an entire generation" of women wanted to "look, dress, and behave."
One of her most famous outfits, the pink suit she was wearing when JFK was tragically assassinated in 1963, had a history of its own.
It was an exact replica of a Chanel suit, made with fabric Chanel sent from their Paris atelier, but sewn in New York - it was Kennedy's way of wearing a French designer without actually wearing something made in France.
Before the Texas trip, Kennedy had worn the suit six times before. The suit is now in the National Archives - but Caroline Kennedy signed a decree that says it won’t be displayed for 100 years. "The family further desires to ensure that the Materials never be subject to public display, research, or any other use that would in any way dishonor the memory of Mrs. Kennedy or President Kennedy, or cause any grief or suffering to members of their family," the donation papers read.
Jackie refused to take the suit off, saying, "Let them see what they've done." The pillbox hat and matching gloves were lost that day.
Life as Jackie O
Jackie was close friends with Aristotle Onassis for many years - at one point, he even dated her sister Lee Radziwill, who she had a famously fraught relationship with.
The couple eventually married in a small, traditional Greek Orthodox ceremony on his private island on October 20, 1968, five years after JFK's assassination. Ari was 23 years older than her and one of the wealthiest men in the world. Her sister was the matron of honor.
When Jackie married Aristotle and became Jackie O, she swapped her tailored suits for bohemian resort wear, including oversized François Pinton sunglasses and Hermès headscarves. Her accessories inspired designers including Missoni, Gucci and Valentino.
Jackie became a Valentino fan after her time as First Lady. She bought six pieces of his couture collection in 1964 and even bought her second wedding gown from the designer. The designer credited her love for the brand with the “Valentino boom.”
The former First Lady also attended the Met Gala in 1979, Vogue's annual high society fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. She was naturally wearing Valentino and actually had a relationship with the Met, as she worked on its various costume exhibitions throughout the 70s.
She slept in her signature silk scarves to maintain her blowouts. “She would use a silk scarf to sleep and a silk pillowcase. If you sleep on cotton, it roughs up your hair,” her former makeup artist Peter Lamas told Refinery29.
She also reportedly spent $1.25 million, which is approximately $9 million today, on clothing during her first year of marriage. Her new husband later gave her a $30,000 monthly allowance to control her spending.
She perfected her '70s style - whether she was yachting or pursuing a publishing career. She ultimately worked as an editor for 19 years, until her death in 1994 from Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Still, her legacy lives on, just like Camelot - with new Jackie O inspirations every fashion week.
