Jackie Kennedy: A Life In Style

All Paris was talking about Mr. Kennedy's wife Jackie. Her weekend at the fair created a human traffic jam. Mrs. John F. Kennedy looking happy and radiant. Jackie is the first First Lady of the United States who really put style on the map. Jackie is synonymous with fashion. She has been an inspiration for celebrities, for royalty, for other First Ladies. You can still look at these pictures of her that are over 50 years old and she still looks modern. May 2019 marks the 25th anniversary of Jackie's death, but her unforgettable elegance, grace and sophistication remain as relevant as ever. This is Jackie, a life in style. Jacqueline Lee Bouvier was born July 28, 1929 in Southampton, New York to stockbroker John Bouvier III and his socialite wife, Janet. Jackie was from one of the richest Catholic families in America at that time. She was a debutante and attended private schools, really an American aristocrat. One thing that Jackie learns growing up is that, you know, appearances are very important, but it's not just how you look. It's also how you speak, how you're educated, the books you read, the horse that you ride, the vacations that you take. While she was in college at Vassar, she spent a year in Paris, a year that she described as the happiest year of her life. And Jackie brought a European sensibility, a European elegance to the way that American women dress. She was wearing black during the daytime when you wouldn't find that. She was very refined and European, mixing that with an American sportswear sensibility. In 1951, 22-year-old Jackie met a handsome 34-year-old congressman from Massachusetts who was about to change her life. She was the perfect match for JFK. She was a fascinating woman. She was very well educated, incredibly beautiful and stylish. In September 1953, they were married at St. Mary's Church in Newport, Rhode Island. 600 guests attended the wedding, which was consecrated by Archbishop Cushing of Boston and blessed by the Pope. She wore this beautiful dress. It was designed by an African-American designer, Anne Lowe. It had a portrait neckline that really showed off her face. And it was made with 50 yards of taffeta. So there was a lot going on. This was not a sleek and simple dress. Just a few days before this big wedding, which was the wedding that the entire world was going to be watching and was excited for, there was a slight plumbing issue. And in the studio of the designer, there were some pipes that broke. And it actually drenched Jackie's dress, but also all 10 of her bridesmaid dresses. So in those few days leading up to the wedding, the designer actually had to recreate all 11 of those dresses. But you would never know if you looked at the photos from the wedding. A crowd of 3,000 fought for a glimpse of the glamorous newlyweds. More than 1,200 leaders of society and politics attended the reception for the young couple. It was the closest thing that we had to a royal wedding. It's all there. The gown, the guests, everything's sort of done perfectly. And there's this magic inherent in this moment. Four years later, Jackie gave birth to the couple's first child, Caroline Bouvier Kennedy. By November 1960, she was pregnant with John Jr. and the family was headed for the White House. Now my wife and I prepare for a new administration and for a new baby. Thank you. On January 20, 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy became the 35th president of the United States. A new era had officially dawned in America. And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. Jackie met the designer Oleg Cassini shortly before her wedding at a nightclub in New York City and he very quickly became her favorite designer. And so he was the one she tapped for her inauguration look. And this was a beautiful look. It was a dress by him with these big buttons. And there was a hat by Halston. And then she paired it with white gloves. And what's so interesting about this look is that it has these signature elements that became synonymous with Jackie herself. So we started to see those white gloves everywhere. We started to see hats like that everywhere too. There's so many great stories about what Jackie was like as a first lady. One thing she really wanted to do is she wanted the White House to be refurbished. She wanted it to be a house that was equal of its stature. This 160-year-old house that she found dowdy and badly in need of a refreshing. So she did that. She went about it very studiously. And then when the results were in place, she invited the public in in this famous televised White House tour. The 1962 tour of the White House is a fascinating interview. First of all, it's one of the few interviews Jackie really ever gave. Are there many state dinners? Yes, there are. There were almost two a month last year. It's one of the few things we really have where we can see her, hear how she speaks and just sort of see her in action. And then this tablecloth is new. It's a gift to the White House from the firm of Porto. And it's all embroidered in gold. And that's one of the most interesting things about Jackie is that style was much more than just what you wore. Style is how you lived, how you spoke, the dinner parties you held, the art you had on your wall, the furniture you had. So style for her is very all-encompassing. From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time. When Jackie accompanied JFK to Dallas on that fateful trip, she was wearing what is now a very iconic suit. It was this watermelon pink look. It was a Chanel design. Jack took actually a very active interest in what Jackie would wear on that trip and advised her, I want you to look good. I want you to look elegant. We're going to be around a bunch of rich Texan ladies wearing diamonds to lunch. And I want you to show them what true elegance looks like. The pink suit that Jackie wore on November 22, 1963, in a way, came to symbolize the tragedy that had befallen her that day. There's a famous story where, when they're aboard Air Force One returning to Washington from Dallas, one of the aides asks her if she wants to change her blood-spattered clothing. And she says, no, I want them to see what they did to him. That ends up becoming this sort of symbol of both violence that had befallen them and also her strength. A gentle reminder from his mother, and John John celebrates his third birthday with a soldier's farewell to his father. When Jackie stepped back into the spotlight a few years after her husband's death, we saw a very different Jackie. Gone were those Oleg Cassini, brightly colored, almost costume-like official dresses. She never wore those again in her life. What you see is a private person now wearing what she wants to wear without the constraints of public duty. In 1968, 39-year-old Jackie married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. The 62-year-old billionaire owned the private island where the ceremony took place. When Jackie got married to Onassis, she wore a very different type of look for the second wedding. It was a Valentino dress. It was actually beige, not white. It was knee-length, and she actually wore some white ribbons in her hair. So this really was that new Jackie that we were seeing. After her marriage to Aristotle Onassis in 1968, Jackie Kennedy, Mrs. Kennedy, becomes Jackie O, which in a way is still how she's often referred to. And Jackie O is definitely a part of the jet set. There's a lot of pictures of her in Capri. She's spending time on his private island of Scorpios. Her dress gets much more modern, more chic. It's a little looser, no more bouffant. Her hair is looser. She's wearing white jeans, Capri sandals. There's a lot of shopping that's going on. And so there's more freedom that comes with that money. And this really catapults her right to a member of the international jet set. The marriage would only last seven years. In 1975, Onassis died, and Jackie was a widow once again. The next chapter is a really interesting one for Jackie. She ends up becoming an editor in New York City, and many people say this is the happiest period of her life. She's seen her children grow up. This is the thing that Jackie said was always the thing that mattered the most to her, to have happy, well-adjusted children. She's so proud of John. He's the apple of her eye. Caroline's a young mother. So this is really a beautiful period of her life when she sort of sees all the seeds she has planted come to fruition. Now she's in God's hands, the outpouring of good wishes from everyone, both in New York. On May 19, 1994, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died of cancer at her home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. She was 64 years old. She was surrounded by her friends and her family and her books and the people and the things that she loved. And she did it in her own way, on her own terms. And we all feel lucky for that. 25 years have passed since Jackie's death, but her influence on fashion is so indelible. We just see over and over again Jackie's mark on the way people dress. You know, so many of Jackie's looks are iconic that in some ways, when I see Michelle Obama in a sleeveless sheath and a pearl necklace, there's only one person that I think of, and it's Jackie. Somehow, 50 years ago, as first lady of this country, Jackie O devised a formula, a way of dressing, a vocabulary of how a woman in a position of power would dress that is still with us today. I think that will go on and on.