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, 5 A Tragic Icon 5, 6 Andy Warhol Prints 7 A Fashion Icon 9, 10, 11, 12 A Silent Icon 8 Television During the 1960’s Bibliography 1 First offcial White House photograph of the First Lady Jackie cbsnews.com Kennedy, Washington DC, 1961 Who was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis? Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis the United States John F. eye, America took note on was the First Lady of the United Kennedy durring his pres- the clothing she wore. Jack- States and wife of President of idency from 1961 until his ie brought Parisian couture assassianiton in 1963. Then to America and then quickly in 1968 Jackie married Aris- became a trendmaker be- totle Onassis. cause of her fashion choices. Jackie’s style is also consid- From the time Jackie theredlist.com was the First Lady, until she er to what made her fashion died from cancer in May icon. 1994, people around the Jackie’s ability to re- world admired her as icon main silent also helped her and continue today too. as an icon. Jackie never Jackie is linked with spoke of JFK’s affairs, his her husband JFK’s assassi- assassination or her battle nation because she was sit- with cancer. Jackie always ting next him as he was fatal- remained silent icon. ly shot and Jackie was then coverd in his blood. The as- sassination is argued the day Jackie became a tragic icon. As Jackie was in the public 2 Jackie and John F. Kennedy, 1959. life.time.com The Pink Suit Jackie had a perfrence for wearing Parisian Couture. Some of her fa- vorite designers included Channel, Dior, Lanvin, Cardin, Givenchy, and Balenciaga. While Jackie was unveiling Pa- risian 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 copy is a Chez Above: Jackie and JFK arriving in Dalas, Nion’s pink wool suit. It was an au- Texas the day of the assassination. thorized copy of a Chanel pink bou- Below: Chanel's original pink wool suit. cle e suit trimmed with a navy blue col- life.time.com lar made in 1961. Jackie has woren the pink suit at least six time between 1961- 1963. 3 life.time.com Jackie and The John F. Kennedy greeting people the day of his life.time.com Assassination assassination. On November 22, 1963, Chez Ninon’s “Let them see what they’ve done. I want them pink wool suit became part of history. It was to see.” It was not until Jackie got back to the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated Washington D.C. early the next morning after while driving in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas her husband’s death that she took off her pink with Jackie sitting right next to him, while she suit off to give to her mother put it in a box to was wearing her pink suit. Hours before the store in her home and inscribed “November assassination, JFK asked Jackie to wear her 22, 1963” on the box top. pink suit for him, because it was one Today Jackie’s pink suit is in of his favorites. President Kennedy the National Archives hidden away said that Jackie looked “smashing” in “Let them from public view. The suit is still her pink suit. Within seconds Jackie see what un-cleaned with the blood stains in the pink suit “became universal- remaining and stored in a tem- ly recognizable, the quintessential, they’ve perature and humidity controlled blood-spattered relic of assassina- done. I and shielded from sunlight room. tion…The pink suit is central to how want them The pink pillbox hat and her white the assassination is remembered.” gloves went missing immediate- The pictures of Jackie that fol- to see.” ly after the assassination. Jackie’s lowed assassination became engraved daughter, Caroline Kennedy gave in people’s minds as it flashed on televisions, the pink suit to the National Archivesand newspapers, and magazines. Jackie refused to signed an agreement with the archives that take off her suit that was splattered with JFK’s her mother’s suit will be off the limits from the blood as she went to the hospital and when public until 2103. The Kennedy family be- Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president. lieves that the suit would cause stress for the As her aides strongly encouraged Jackie to take nation and requested strict enforcement of off her suit, she adamantly refused and said, keeping the pink suit from public view. 4 A Tragic and Silent "It was on the day of the Icon assassination that ‘her image became engraved on our souls.’” Jackie with her children Caroline and John F. Kennedy Jr. and JFK’s mother behind waiting outside St. Mathew's for procession to cemetery. Below: Jackie still wear- A ing the bloodstain suit as Lydon B. Johnson is being sown in as the President of the United Tragic States. Icon nypost.com November 22, 1963 is argued the day United States of America to other images of her that Jackie became an icon. The day of JFK’s in silence. She was photographed everywhere assassination, “her transformation to a symbol but remained silent except to tell the press when for the nation was virtually instantaneous.” she refused to change her clothes. Writer, Joan The images of Jackie in her bloodstained Smith says “that the most telling point about suit standing by Lyndon B. Johnson on Air the iconization (sic) of Jackie Kennedy is that Force as he was sworn in as President of the her image is in extricably linked with grief… 5 It was on the day of the assassination that ‘her the darker emotions which rich, famous and image became engraved on our souls.’” Jack- seemingly powerful women might otherwise ie became an icon with in seconds because stir up - envy fear, anger. Movie stars and of her with her husband’s blood splattered on supermodels come and go, but none of them her. Smith says that to be an icon you have to achieving the potent mix of beauty, silence have tragedy and grief. Smith says that the and suffering which have set Jackie apart. “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 Jackie wearing the blood- stained suit with her broth- er-in-law Robert Kennedy, as JFK's being placed into the ambulance after the assassination. nypost.com 7 A Silent Icon Writer Joan Smith recognizes Jackie’s and constant desire to not be photographed and attribute of silence was her greatest strength out of the public view as much as possible pro- and why she gains public admiration. Smith vided her with a special mystique and mystery states that the “rule for aspirant female icons that drove the public (and her style admirers) is as unbending as ever: say nothing.” Jackie to even more consider her an icon. This is in never spoke of her husband’s assassination, direct contrast with today’s “wanna-be” icons, his affairs with other women, or her own like the Kardashians, reality TV stars, and pop battle with cancer. She gave two interviews culture stars, who are striving to be as public during her life, which cannot be released un- as possible with posting “self-ies” on Instagram til 2067. Although Jackie’s iconization is di- and tweeting what they are doing all day long rectly attached to grief, Jackie’s silence also- on Twitter. must be noted as a great strength. Her silence 8 aaronartprint.org Andy Warhol Prints Only after Jackie became a widow, artist Andy Warhol started to depict Jackie in his artwork. 1 2 artnet.com 3 1. Red Jackie The red color is the reminder of JFK’s blood “showered” on Jackie, which is a “cruel mockery.” 2. Jackie Triptych Which are three photos of Jackie at JFK’s Funeral. 3. Jackie III a four-framed silkscreen that Jackie is transformed from a happy wife to a widow. walkingollie.wordpress.com 7 A Fashion Icon Jackie was a “trendmaker, because whatever Jackie wore, the rest of America wore-and is still wearing.” Jackie on her first day in India during her trip to India and Pakistan, 1962 9 Jackie during Jackie relaxing JFK’s presidential in a chair, 1961 campaign, 1960 Jackie in a apricot Oleg Cassini dress in Udaipur, India, 1962. Jackie and JFK while touri Alliance for Progress Protait of Jackie projects in by Jacques Lowe, Latin America, 1960s. 1961. Fashion critic Samantha Critchell Jackie’s “style is enduring because she wore says that Jackie was a “trendmaker, because classic shapes.” whatever Jackie wore, the rest of Ameri- Jackie knew what clothes worked for her: ca wore-and is still wearing.” Women want- “the stand-away neckline on her coats and suits ed Jackie’s look and style. According to Pa- worked with her wide face and dark hair. Ditto mela Clarke Keogh (author of Jackie Style), for the big buttons she was quite emphatic’ about Jackie is a trendmaker because she took very because they were in proportion with her face.” few missteps.