"I DRESSED JACKIE TO BE A STAR IN A MAJOR FILM"

A CRUISE WITH OLEG CASSINI

Hyannis Port (JFK+50) On August 20, 1961, President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy, along with daughter Caroline, took a cruise on the Marlin.  The First Lady's dress designer Oleg Cassini* was also aboard.

Mr. Cassini became known for the "Jackie Look" which women around the world attempted to copy.  He was the First Lady's exclusive dress designer, and he said...

"There wasn't one lady on the planet who didn't want to dress like (Jackie)..."

and added...

"I dressed Jackie to be a star in a major film, which she was, the most famous First Lady of all time.  I became her secretary of style."

Mary Talbot described Jackie as "the 20th Century First Lady of Fashion."

Jackie Kennedy Onassis's trademark fashion symbols included the pillbox hat, black-framed sunglasses, the sleeveless suit dress and the leopard coat.


*Oleg Aleksandrovich Loiewski, a.k.a. Oleg Cassini (1913-2006) was born in Paris to a Russian diplomat.  The family fled the Russian Revolution & settled in Florence, Italy where OC's mother founded a fashion house.

OC studied Political Science at the University of Florence & studied Fine Art at Academid de Belle Arti Firenze.  He arrived in New York City in December 1936 & moved to Hollywood where he became a costume designer.

SOURCE

"The Jackie Look:  Fashion's First Lady," by Mary Talbot, The New York Daily News, May 20, 1994, www.nydailynews.com/

First Lady after a State Dinner

The White House

May 22, 1962

Photo by Robert Knudsen

JFK Library Image

FIRST LADY OF FASHION

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 2045

JFK & JACKIE TAKE A CRUISE WITH OLEG CASSINI

Hyannis Port, Massachusetts (JFK+50) Fifty-five years ago today, August 20, 1961, President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy along with daughter Caroline took a cruise on the Marlin.  The First Lady's dress designer Oleg Cassini* was also aboard.

Mr. Cassini became known for the "Jackie Look" which women around the world attempted to copy.  He was the First Lady's exclusive dress designer, and he said...

"There wasn't one lady on the planet who didn't want to dress like (Jackie)..."

and added...

"I dressed Jackie to be a star in a major film, which she was, the most famous First Lady of all time.  I became her secretary of style."

Mary Talbot described Jackie as "the 20th Century First Lady of Fashion."

Jackie Kennedy Onassis's trademark fashion symbols included the pillbox hat, black-framed sunglasses, the sleeveless suit dress and the leopard coat.


*Oleg Aleksandrovich Loiewski, a.k.a. Oleg Cassini (1913-2006) was born in Paris to a Russian diplomat.  The family fled the Russian Revolution & settled in Florence, Italy where OC's mother founded a fashion house.

OC studied Political Science at the University of Florence & studied Fine Art at Academid de Belle Arti Firenze.  He arrived in New York City in December 1936 & moved to Hollywood where he became a costume designer.

SOURCE

"The Jackie Look:  Fashion's First Lady," by Mary Talbot, The New York Daily News, May 20, 1994, www.nydailynews.com/

First Lady after a State Dinner

The White House

May 22, 1962

Photo by Robert Knudsen

JFK Library Image

Oleg Cassini (1962)

INAUGURAL GALA 1961

KENNEDY INAUGURAL GALA HELD 53 YEARS AGO TONIGHT

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) The National Armory was the site of the Inaugural Gala for President-elect John F. Kennedy 53 years ago tonight, January 19, 1961.

President and Mrs. Kennedy

Presidential Inaugural Ball

January 20, 1961

Photo by Abbie Rowe

National Park Service Image

The show was produced by Kennedy friend and political supporter, Frank Sinatra, who described his role as "the most exciting assignment of my life."

The President-elect had stayed at Mr. Sinatra's Palm Springs home after being declared the winner of the presidential election of 1960 the previous November.

Frank Sinatra was assisted in the production by JFK brother-in-law, actor Peter Lawford.

Carl Anthony says that the 1961 Inaugural Gala...

"featured not only a wide variety of types of entertainment but performers more diverse than ever before."

The cast included....

Laurence Olivier
Ethel Merman
Bette Davis
Frederic March 
Sidney Poitier
Anthony Quinn
Janet Leigh
Tony Curtis
Gene Kelly
Nat King Cole
Jimmy Durante
Harry Belafonte 
Milton Berle.

The Gala, which was delayed in starting because of a snowstorm that hit the Nation's Capitol that day, included the music of Leonard Bernstein's Orchestra.

The President-elect and Vice-President-elect entered the Armory to the strains of "Anchors Aweigh."  The great gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson, sang the National Anthem.

Jacqueline Kennedy wore the unforgettable Oleg Cassini "ivory double-faced silk satin" gown with cockade trim.  The dress established Mrs. Kennedy's style on the eve of becoming First Lady.

The cockade expressed pride in her French ancestry and love of history. During the American Revolutionary War, General George Washington's soldiers wore black cockades and French General the Marquis de Lafayette wore a black and white cockade.

Jacqueline Kennedy

Inaugural Gala Gown

JFK Library Photo

After the show, the President-elect said...

"I am proud to be a Democrat because...the...party has been identified with excellence, and we saw excellence tonight."

Twenty years later, in January 1981, Frank Sinatra would produce another Inaugural Gala.  That one was for President-elect Ronald Reagan.

SOURCES

"The Inaugural Gala That Was," CarlAnthonyonline.com, January 18, 2013.

www.sinatra.com