1000+ images about Jackie Kennedy's Pillbox Hats on Pinterest | Jfk, The suits and Jacqueline kennedy onassis Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas Jackie Kennedy's Pillbox Hats Jackie put the pillbox on the fashion map. From Halston to Cassini, the hat topped many of her most famous outfits. All rights reserved to appropriate copyright holders. 27 Pins505 Followers Jackie Kennedy, the Presidential Wardrobe | Jacqueline Bouvier, photographed by Horst P. Horst on the announcement of her marriage to John F. Kennedy, 1953 . Introduction The 1960’s were considered to be a time for change, and that is exactly what first lady Jacqueline Kennedy did for White House fashion. Jackie Kennedy became a fashion icon during her few years as first lady and her influence on women’s attire continued throughout her life. Everyone fell in love with Jackie’s grace and style largely because of her wonderful fashion choices. Jackie Kennedy loved wearing bright colors such as pink, yellow, red and ivory. Her own personal fashion icon was Audrey Hepburn and throughout her life, Jackie’s style would always feature the flavor of Hepburn’s old Hollywood glamor.

As a result, Jackie chose Hubert de Givenchy as her go-to designer since Givenchy created looks for Audrey Hepburn in ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s.’ Jackie Kennedy’s daywear generally consisted of simple sleeveless dresses, Chanel jackets and A-line skirts by Dior, paired with her signature pillbox hat, pumps, long white gloves and usually pearls or brooches. For days around the White House or in the office, Jackie opted for a high-waist trousers paired with a blouse, turtleneck or cashmere sweater. Jackie always completed her daywear with her black, oversized sunglasses – a trend that is still in style. For eveningwear, Jackie’s style was generally a sleeveless look in a single color with a founded or bateau neckline as well as long sheath dresses that showed off her slim figure. Jackie also loved backless or off-the shoulder gowns, which made her look like Hollywood royalty. Her shoes and accessories would always match her evening apparel perfectly. A pair of white gloves was another signature accessory of Jackie Kennedy’s. She also knew the meaning of the word ‘occasion.’ When traveling to foreign countries, Jackie always dressed accordingly to complement the customs of her host nation.

For example, when visiting India, her style was more conservative than what she would wear to an American event. It’s this quality that helped foster Jackie’s classic and classy sense of style and drew infatuation from people all over the world. Amazing experience Where to start a post about Jackie Bouvier, Kennedy, Onassis, who was and still is a style icon? I did go to the exhibition ‘Jackie Kennedy, the White House Years’ in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2001 and it was one of the best I’ve ever seen (except ofcourse the exhibition of Alexander McQueen at the same museum). To see these clothes, you know so well from all pictures and tv broadcasts, from nearby was an amazing experience. . Exhibition The reason for the exhibition was to mark the 40th anniversary of her emergence as America’s First Lady and to explore her enduring global influence on style. Some 80 original costumes and accessories had come from the collection of the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, to which the former First Lady donated these landmark pieces after she left the White House. The collection included elements from her formal White House wardrobe – what Mrs.

Kennedy herself called her “state clothes” – as well as pieces worn during her husband’s 1960 presidential campaign. Hamish Bowles, European editor-at-large of Vogue, served as creative consultant. “Jacqueline Kennedy is one of history’s great style icons. Her profound influence on the way an entire generation wanted to look, dress, and behave cannot be overestimated.” Hamish Bowles Hollywood’s preeminent designer, Edith Head, called her ‘the greatest single influence [on fashion] in history’ . Advice to Jackie Jackie studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and she returned with a smart, sophisticated Parisian wardrobe, containing pieces of Givenchy, Balenciaga and Chanel. When John F.’s career climbed the ladder, Jackie was issued a discreet ultimatum: For political expediency : Cut the Paris cord. She began consulting with Diana Vreeland, the fashion oracle, on a selection of American designers. In December, the Hollywood costumer Oleg Cassini, a French-born American of aristocratic Russian and Italian descent, was made official designer of her White House wardrobe.

An old family friend, Cassini would create for his star client a polished wardrobe of both original designs and Paris copies—for which Jackie often supplied sketches, pages torn from magazines, and fabric swatches. . Another advice came from Manhattan hairdresser Kenneth: loose the short, wavy “Italian Cut” hairdo, grow your hair and stretch it out on rollers. (In the coming years, Kenneth will be responsible for Jackie’s famous trend-setting bouffant) . Famous outfits Inauguration Day On the Inauguration Day, January 20, 1961, Jackie dressed in Cassini’s trim greige coat, worn with Halston’s news-making pillbox hat and a little sable circlet and muff. It set the tone for the new first lady’s wardrobe. . Inaugural Bal For the 1961 celebration,Jackie Kennedy collaborated on a design with Bergdorf Goodman’s Ethel Frankau and Emeric Partos. “What you see with the inaugural gown is the triumph of her own personal style,” the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Valerie Steele has said.

“To use fashion as a way of representing her husband’s presidency—to look modern, elegant, simple and American.” An Ivory column with silver embellished bodice, veiled with a sheer overblouse and a matching cape to add a royal touch. . Inaugural Gala Jacqueline Kennedy’s Inaugural Gala Gown. Ivory silk satin evening gown, by Oleg Cassini, American, 1961. Worn by Jacqueline Kennedy to the Inaugural Gala, National Guard Armory, Washington, D.C., January 19, 1961 the evening before President Kennedy’s inauguration. The cockade at the waist pointed to Jacqueline Kennedy’s pride in her French Bouvier ancestry and her profound love of history. . Television broadcast Jackie Kennedy wears a red wool day dress by Christian Dior for a televised tour of the White House on Valentine’s Day in 1962 . Nobel Prize winners diner A Grecian draped Celadon column in silk jersey, draped to form a pleated skirt and a gathered bust line. Designed by Oleg Cassini.

This dress was worn by the First Lady to the dinner honoring the Nobel Prize winners of the Western Hemisphere at the White House in Washington, 1962. . Opening of the Mona Lisa exhibit Pink silk chiffon strapless evening dress. This sari inspired evening dress is delicately beaded with porcelain and rhinestones. Jackie had noticed a photograph of Audrey Hepburn wearing the original yellow version of the dress in the May 11, 1962 issue of Life magazine, designed by Hubert de Givenchy. She supplied Cassini with a sketch from which he created this version after a spring-summer 1962 This gown was worn by Jackie to the opening of the Mona Lisa exhibit at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1963. The First Lady also wore this dress at the White House state dinner honoring President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan of India, June 3, 1963. . Visiting the Pope A full-length long-sleeved black dress in black Alaskine with a taffeta petticoat.

This dress was worn by Jacqueline Kennedy during her audience with Pope John XXIII, Vatican, Rome, March 11, 1962. Protocol requires that women wear a mantilla or hat and dressed in black. This dress is one of my favorites worn by the First Lady, because of the fabulous simplicity. . Fatal day Jacqueline Kennedy wore a double-breasted, strawberry pink and navy trim collared Chanel wool suit on November 22, 1963, when her husband, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Accompanying the suit was a trademark pillbox hat in matching pink. The suit has become an emblem for her husband’s assassination and one of the iconic items of fashion of the 1960s. It has been variously described as “a famous pink suit which will forever be embedded in America’s historical conscience“, as “one of those indelible images Americans had stored: Jackie in the blood-stained pink Chanel suit”, as “the most legendary garment in American history“, and as “emblematic of the ending of innocence“.

Jacqueline Kennedy was a fashion icon, and this outfit is arguably the most referenced and revisited of all of her items of clothing and her trademark. . 1960s Dresses 1960s Dresses 1960s Dresses 1960s Dresses 1960s Dresses – The first half of the Sixties resembled the Fifties. Conservative, ladylike, proper. No short skirts. Gloves for evening and social occasions. Petticoats and girdles. The dresses at left and below with their swing, pleated or pencil skirts could easily have been worn in the 1950s. Women wore dresses or skirts for all but the most casual activity. Pants were for sport or play and never worn to school. Left Dainty lace accents softly shirred sleeves and tucked bodice. 68% cotton, 32% Dacron polyester $8.94 Left Below Montgomery Ward’s 1961 Sleeveless scoop neck dress has either straight or unpressed pleat skirt. Matching solid cummberbund buckles in back. Jacket has dolman sleeves. Washable vat-dyed combed cotton.

$9.94 1960s dresses, the shirtwaist dress will survive the entire decade. The skirt will get a little shorter and the collar a bit wider, but the dress will remain a staple of the average American woman. Left Shirtwaist of tropical colors printed on all cotton. Kerchief included. Sanforized. $22.84 Left Below Montgomery Ward’s 1961 Classic Brentshire shirtwaist, the popular style everyone loves to wear. In silk, Dacron polyester and cotton ot pima cotton. Monogram design decorates bodice front. Nore smart convertible collar, roll-up sleeves. Buttons close on front tab to below the waist. Silk $17.98 Dacron cotton $12.98 Pima Cotton $9.98 There was evidence of changes to come. The dresses, left and right, have 1950s styling, but hint at 1960s color and pattern. The flowers at left are not yet those we associate with “flower power” but they are bigger and bolder than we would have ssen a decade before. The dress at right sports colors far more vibrant than seen earlier.

Left Montgomery Ward’s 1961 Bouffant silk dress with deeply rounded neckline. Fitted bodice and full shirred skirt. Attached nylon petticoat. $24.98 Cotton Dress. Print scalloped neckline. Back zipper $3.84 Seersucker (left) held its place in the American woman’s closet. The silk dress (right) from its A-line style to the bright color and topped by a pillbox hat is pure Jackie Kennedy. (see below). Left Sears 1963 Combed cotton seersucker. Three piece suit looks crisp and cool. Cardigan has mock pockets with simulated pearl buttons. Skirt has easy walk-in kick pleat. White cotton broadcloth blouse buttons in back. $7.84 Shirtwaist dress, a great American fashion, in a great American fabric. Step-in style. Contrast stitch trim, smart rope belt. $6.84 Left Below Montgomery Ward 1964 Pure Silk Shantung. Modified A-Line style. Overblouse shaped with curved bodice seam caught by a bow. $17.84 President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy.

November 22, 1963. Dallas, Texas. No suit of the early 60s is more famous or better remembered than that worn by Jacqueline Kennedy on November 22, 1963. She had been given bad weather reports. The Chanel pink suit was wool and thus uncomfortably warm on a hot Dallas day. She wore her signature pillbox hat which had become all the rage. By the way, it was Mrs. Kennedy’s hats which gave Halston his first serious public exposure as back then, he was a milliner. Jackie was only 33 years old when she became First Lady, the second youngest ever. During her brief tenure in the White House, she brought an elegance to dressing, a style to American life. Unlike her predecessors, she wore European couture dresses, but this presented political problems. She needed to dress in American designs more often. Eventually she found her way to Oleg Cassini, a French-born Russian turned naturalized American. Cassini gave her Americanized versions of French designs, clean lined, in the bright, solid colors she preferred, but with oversize buttons and coat pockets that his Hollywood experience told him would stand out in photographs.

Jackie’s trademarks were the boxy jackets and pillbox hats, the three-quarter-length sleeves, the lace mantillas, the overblouse dresses and the sleeveless A-lines. Click Here to see Mrs. Kennedy’s gowns. Valentine’s Day, 1962. Two-piece day dress by Chez Ninon after fall–winter 1961 model by Marc Bohan for Christian Dior. The second half of the Sixties begins quietly. But the dynamic social changes sweeping the world would soon manifest themselves in fashion. A new freedom in hemlines, a bolder approach to color would parallel the youth movement yearning for choices which did not mimic their predecessors. The dress at left from 1965 still screamed ladylike femininity. Throughout the decade certain basics remained and real women didn’t go around dressed like hippies. The polo style dress below from 1969 remains a classic and you could easily wear it today. Left Monttgomery Ward 1965 The deep rounded collar is the most softly feminine, gracefully flattering look of the year. Bright white polka dots add snap to the Arnel triacetate jersey dress with unpressed pleats, back zipper.

$9.97 Left Below Montgomery Ward’s 1969 Wards ’69 Seahorse sun-sation The super shirt dress with easy travel-tuned lines, is the look. In a cool-n-classic polyester and cotton. $6.50 The shirtwaist dress will survive the entire decade and women will wear the style at left throughout. These two dresses are exactly what one might wear to school. By 1968 even mainstream clothiers had to acknowledge the changes and the shirtwaist had taken on a whole new look. (right.) Left Sears 1966 Perma-prest shirtdress in lovely broadcloth of Kodel polyester and Avril rayon. You can shorten but not lengthen the hem. $7.50 Left Below McCall’s Magazine 1968 An artless little black and white plaid with a Kitty Foyle bow at the neckline, and long sleeves ending in white cuffs. Cotton and Arnel. From R & K Originals. $26 Both of these dresses are from 1968. They aptly illustrate the choices. At left, the style is still pure Jackie Kennedy. At right, the mod influence is evident.

Only in the 1960s would anyone be bold enough to wear this shift out in public. With matching orange stockings, no less! The look was bold, daring and adventurous – how 60’s. Left Sears 1968 Textured Double Knit of Fortrel polyester, Perma Press dress. Skimmer style topped with a standup collar, trimmed with diagonal placed buttons. $17.75 Left Below Sears 1968 Print shift – dazzling wardrobe brightener. Self-covered buttons at softly gathered slit neckline. Billowy sleeves with elasticized wrists. $14.97 Venerable clothier Ship’n Shore responded to the 1960s by shortening the hemlines on this classic shirtshift. The tent dress at right reflects late Sixties bold colors. Left McCall’s Magazine 1968 From Ship’n Shore. Both 50% Dacron polyester, 50% cotton. Long sleeves shirtshift.

$8 Turtleband shirtshift $8 Jacqueline Kennedy’s Smart Pink Suit, Preserved in Memory and Kept Out of View - The New York Times The New York Times Fashion & Style |Jacqueline Kennedy’s Smart Pink Suit, Preserved in Memory and Kept Out of View Search Jacqueline Kennedy’s Smart Pink Suit, Preserved in Memory and Kept Out of View Critic’s Notebook Photo John and Jacqueline Kennedy in Dallas in 1963. Credit Art Rickerby/Time & Life Pictures, via Getty Images On the plane back to Washington, in her pink Chanel suit, caked with her husband’s blood, Jackie Kennedy resisted all suggestions from aides that she clean herself up. Instead, she just said, “Let them see what they’ve done.” But for the half century since John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, the most famous artifact from that day, one of the most recognizable articles of clothing ever worn, has been seen by almost no one. Now preserved by the National Archives in a climate-controlled vault outside of Washington, it is subject to Kennedy family restrictions that it not be seen for almost a century more.

If there is a single item that captures both the shame and the violence that erupted that day, and the glamour and artifice that preceded it, it is Jackie Kennedy’s bloodstained pink suit, a tantalizing window on fame and fashion, her allure and her steely resolve, the things we know about her and the things we never quite will. That Mrs. Kennedy is so closely linked to an item of clothing is fitting. In nearly three years as first lady, she had gained universal celebrity for her youthful style. Politically, it meant huge crowds whenever she accompanied the president. But for Mrs. Kennedy, who felt vulnerable, fashion gave her a sense of separation from the public’s gaze. It was armor. Continue reading the main story So even on that day, before the horror of what ensued, to look at Mrs. Kennedy was to be drawn inevitably to the pink suit, a line-for-line copy of a classic cardigan-style Chanel with navy lapels. The suit came from Chez Ninon, a Park Avenue salon that created many of her clothes, following her taste for simple lines.

She wore it at least six other times, including on a 1962 visit to London and that same year to greet the prime minister of Algeria. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Fifty years ago, at noon in Dallas, Clint Hill, who was the Secret Service agent assigned to Mrs. Kennedy, thought the pink suit looked fluorescent against the dark blue of the car carrying the president and the first lady. “She stood out so much in the car because of the color of that suit,” said Mr. Hill, who has released a new account of the killing, “Five Days in November,” in time for the anniversary. “It was like the sun just illuminated it.” Now preserved in its vault, the pink suit and its accessories, still stained, the stockings blood-powdered and folded in a white towel, remain essentially unchanged from the day of the assassination. Only the outfit’s matching pillbox hat and white kid gloves are missing, lost in the chaos of that day. Photo Wearing the bloodstained pink suit that has become one of the artifacts of Nov. 22, 1963, Mrs. Kennedy arrived at Andrews Air Force Base and was escorted by her brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy.

Credit Associated Press Although the National Archives has kept the suit and accessories, including navy shoes, bag and navy blouse, since 1964, when they arrived in a dress box, the items legally belonged after her death to Caroline Kennedy as her mother’s surviving heir. So a deed of gift was made in 2003 with the provision that the suit would not be seen by the public until 2103. Through her office, Ms. Kennedy declined to comment. Over the years, the Kennedy family has sought to avoid the sensational treatment of assassination artifacts, and that is the explicit intent of the 100-year restriction. Nonetheless, Martha Murphy, chief of special access at the archives, said Mrs. Kennedy’s clothes are the only items in the assassination collection with this specific restriction. By comparison, scholars and researchers who meet special criteria of the archives may view President Kennedy’s clothing and the rifle used by Lee Harvey Oswald. To the best of anyone’s knowledge, access to Mrs. Kennedy’s suit for research purposes has never been granted. After Mrs. Kennedy returned to the White House, early on Nov.

23, her clothing was put in a bag, presumably by her personal maid, Providencia Paredes, and soon after placed in a dress box. Records show that it arrived at the archives sometime before July 1964, accompanied by an unsigned note on the stationery of Mrs. Kennedy’s mother, Janet Auchincloss. The note simply said: “Jackie’s suite and bag — worn November 22, 1963.” It is unknown whether Mrs. Auchincloss made the decision to send the clothes to the archives or, as many believe, was following her daughter’s wishes. Ms. Paredes, in an interview, said the suit was at first sent to Mrs. Auchincloss’s home in Georgetown, but she is confident Mrs. Kennedy would have made the decision on where to send it. “Nobody would have made that decision for her,” she said. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The Kennedy family never advised the archives about cleaning the suit, Ms. Murphy said, although leaving blood and other residue on garments is a standard conservation practice.

“It’s part of the history of the object,” said Phyllis Magidson, curator of costume and textiles at the Museum of the City of New York. Ms. Murphy, who has seen the suit, said it essentially looks brand-new. For all Mrs. Kennedy’s visibility, it seems fitting that her pink suit should be hidden from view. “She certainly understood invisibility and disappearance very deeply, as well as staged appearance,” said the cultural critic Wayne Koestenbaum, author of “Jackie Under My Skin: Interpreting an Icon.” “So the unseen suit is a very poignant and accurate emblem of her contradiction.” And noting that Mrs. Kennedy’s interest in historic preservation adds another facet to the suit’s status, Ms. Magidson said, “It has everything encapsulated within it.” Curators cannot think of another historical garment imbued with more meaning, and also deemed too sensitive to be shown. Among items of apparel with similar resonance are garments worn in concentration camps and the tatters that remained after the atomic blasts in Japan. But these objects, while deeply affecting, are displayed in museums.

Other examples mentioned by curators include Napoleon’s death coat, a shoe dropped by Marie Antoinette on the way to the guillotine and the suit and cloak Abraham Lincoln was wearing when he was assassinated. Mrs. Lincoln gave these items to a family friend. That man’s family kept them until the 1950s, when the American Trucking Association raised money to buy and donate them to the government. Since the ‘60s, they have been on display at Ford’s Theater, though the cloak was put away because of wear. Photo Ms. Kennedy wore the pink suit at least six other times, including in 1962 to greet the prime minister of Algeria. Credit Robert Knudsen/White House, via John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston But when Lincoln was alive, relatively few Americans knew what he looked like. Besides, his image, even if it had been familiar, would hardly have compared to Mrs. Kennedy’s riveting beauty and pop culture celebrity.

She was, as Norman Mailer said in a 1962 essay critical of her televised tour of the White House, “an institution being put together before our eyes.” For that reason, combined with the fixation on President Kennedy’s assassination and a charged media culture, most experts believe that displaying her suit would be problematic. “It would produce hysteria if it were placed on view,” Ms. Magidson said. Those who knew her say it is almost certain that Mrs. Kennedy played a role in nearly every step of the suit’s journey from Manhattan dress shop to Dallas, and eventually to the vault. She was a woman of meticulous organizational skills, who dictated to her White House secretary, Mary Barelli Gallagher, from her bed, and who dogged people with her morning memos. (Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. once likened them to Churchill’s “Action This Day” memos during World War II.) Advertisement Continue reading the main story Ms. Gallagher’s 1969 memoir, “My Life with Jacqueline Kennedy” makes a good companion to “The Death of a President,” by William Manchester, the one book on the assassination commissioned by the Kennedys. Loaded with details about Mrs.

Kennedy’s work and personal habits, Ms. Gallagher’s memoir is sort of a backstairs view of the noble purposes that Mr. Manchester ascribes to her. For instance, he referred to Mrs. Kennedy as a “retiring” socialite who was transformed by loss, “a new Jackie.” But he did not consider that maybe the skills and determination that she used to hunt down clothes and furniture were the same qualities she magisterially deployed after the assassination. And what about her stony refusal to change her clothes? Though describing White House duties, Ms. Gallagher offered many instances where Mrs. Kennedy had no compunction about saying no. She wrote, “If she didn’t want to participate in some activity, nothing could drive her to it.” The Manchester book described President Kennedy taking an unusual interest in what his wife planned to wear on the Texas trip, something he had never done in their marriage. He said to her, Mr. Manchester reported, “Be simple — show these Texans what good taste really is.” Ms. Paredes, though not disputing the account, gives less significance to it: “Maybe the president told her to wear the suit. I don’t think she gave it a thought.

It was a practical suit to travel in.” She added, “I did pack a lot of clothes for her, because you never know about the weather. The president called me on the phone. It was the last time I spoke to him. He said, ‘You know, it’s going to be hot in Texas.’ ” Correction: November 22, 2013 A critic’s notebook article last Friday about the pink Chanel suit worn by Jacqueline Kennedy on the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 misstated the title of the Algerian leader she greeted while wearing the same outfit in 1962. It was the country’s prime minister, not its president. A version of this article appears in print on November 15, 2013, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Hidden Away, a Pink Artifact Of Glamour and Shed Blood. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Couture Allure Vintage Fashion: Jacqueline Kennedy and Her Hats Jacqueline Kennedy and Her Hats It is ironic that Jacqueline Kennedy is so well known for her hats, when she really did not like to wear them.

As a politician's wife, though, she had to bow to convention and wear a hat at times when not doing so would have been seen as disrespectful. During her time as First Lady, Jackie turned to Bergdorf Goodman for all her millinery. Halston was the custom milliner at Bergdorf's at this time, and he would make copies of Paris models and also create custom designs for her. Jackie preferred hat styles that would not crush her hair nor obscure her face, so as to be visible to the public. This is why you most often see her hats worn tilted to the back of her head. October 19, 1960 - Three weeks before the election, the Kennedys are honored during a ticker- tape parade in New York City. Jackie wears a wide cut coat and pillbox hat by Givenchy. May 31, 1961 - Jackie dons a yellow natural straw hat by Halston that matches a favorite yellow silk suit for luncheon at the Élysée Palace in France.

June 30, 1962 - Jackie wears a pink parabuntal straw hat designed to match her pink silk shantung sleeveless suit by Oleg Cassini, which was perfect for the summer heat in Mexico. Here Jackie gives a speech in Spanish at a luncheon with Mexico's President Adolfo López Mateos. March 27, 1963 - Jackie wears a navy lacquered straw brimmed hat during a welcoming ceremony for King Hassan II of Morocco at Union Station, Washington, DC. May 8, 1962 - Jackie wears a chartreuse silk shantung brimmed Breton hat for the launch of the nuclear submarine USS Lafayette. April 11, 1962 - Jackie wears a natural straw brimmed Breton hat with a simple navy suit during a welcoming ceremony for the Shah of Iran and his wife. The bag? Christian Dior. I hope you've enjoyed this week of exploring the fashion of Jacqueline Kennedy as much as I have. Of course, there is far more than what I've shown here, so I'll definitely come back to her sometime in the future. All photos from "Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years".

"The Pink Suit," a novel by Nicole Mary Kelby, explores the history of Kennedy's pink dress. It will be published in April. Little, Brown and Company Throughout November, KERA will mark the 50th anniversary of the John F. Kennedy assassination by taking a closer look at that fateful day, what it meant to the country, how it changed Dallas, and more. Today, we look back at what Jackie Kennedy wore when she was in Dallas with her husband on Nov. 22, 1963. Fifty years ago this month, Jackie Kennedy arrived in Dallas as stylish as ever, wearing a pink dress with pink pillbox hat. First, we saw her in the pink dress holding red roses and greeting the crowds at Dallas Love Field. Next, we saw her in the pink dress in the presidential limousine as it traveled through downtown Dallas. Then, we saw her in the pink dress as she tried to lunge out of the back of the limo after her husband had been shot. Later in the day, we saw her in the pink dress as she stood next to Lyndon Johnson as he was being sworn in on Air Force One. Then, it was covered with her husband’s blood.

Jackie Kennedy was asked to “clean up her appearance,” but she refused, according to William Manchester’s “The Death of a President.” "Why not change?" one aide prompted. "Another dress?" the president's personal physician suggested. Mrs. Kennedy shook her head hard. "No, let them see what they've done." But whatever happened to the dress? It sits inside the National Archives and Records Administration in Maryland. In 2011, The Los Angeles Times reported on the dress and how it ended up in the archives. It sits unfoldsed and shielded from light in an acid-free container in a windowless room, the L.A. Times reported. "It looks like it's brand-new, except for the blood," senior archivist Steven Tilley, one of a handful of people to see the suit, told the Times. Pictures of Jackie Kennedy visiting Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963: How did the dress get to the National Archives? The Times explains: Sometime in the next six months [after the assassination], a box arrived at the National Archives' downtown headquarters, where such treasures as the Constitution and Bill of Rights are kept.

In it was the suit, blouse, handbag and shoes, even her stockings, along with an unsigned note on the letterhead stationery of Janet Auchincloss, Mrs. Kennedy's mother: "Jackie's suit and bag worn Nov. 22, 1963." Why does the dress matter? The outfit that Kennedy wore would come to "epitomize the essence of Camelot and the death of it," the Times reported. "The single symbol of that event and of her as a persona is that pink suit," said Carl Sferrazza Anthony, a first ladies historian. "It's all anyone need see and, in an instant, people know what it is in reference to." A Chanel knockoff Jackie Kennedy didn't want to upstage the president as she had on a trip to Paris, the Times said. She brought two suits with her to Texas, including the pink Chanel knockoff "created by a New York dress shop so she could indulge her French tastes and still buy American." The history of the pink dress Author Nicole Mary Kelby has studied the history of Kennedy’s pink dress.

Her novel, “The Pink Suit,” is based on the true story of the dress and will be published in April by Little, Brown and Company. Kelby told KERA that the Chanel knockoff was made at the Chez Ninon dress shop in New York. Chez Ninon made clothes for Jackie Kennedy’s mother. The pink suit was John Kennedy’s favorite, Kelby said. It was made by an Irish immigrant named Kate. The hand-woven dress took nearly 90 hours to make. And it wasn’t just pink – it included many shades, including raspberry, cherry, rose and blush. “This type of Chanel suit was what every country club woman wanted,” Kelby said. “The suit looked sturdy but it wasn't. The pink suit's silk lining was too fragile to wear often. The bouclé fabric was handmade and was given to shedding. It was an impossible suit but breathtaking.” Kennedy often wore the pink suit, and was photographed in it many times. “The public was used to seeing her in it,” Kelby said. “One of the reasons why there is still such fascination with this garment is that all of us could relate to the idea of having a favorite suit.

And to have that suit ruined in such a horrible, public way still strikes us to the core.” Kate, the suitmaker, never got over it, Kelby said. “And neither did we.” Observations from Lady Bird Lady Bird Johnson stood near Jackie Kennedy on Air Force One as her husband was sworn in as president. Lady Bird later wrote in her diary: "I looked at her. Mrs. Kennedy's dress was stained with blood. One leg was almost entirely covered with it and her right glove was caked, it was caked with blood - her husband's blood," Lady Bird wrote. "Somehow that was one of the most poignant sights - that immaculate woman exquisitely dressed, and caked in blood." But what about the pillbox hat? The secret service agent who climbed onto the back of the limousine to protect the first lady said he gave it to Mary Gallagher, Kennedy’s personal secretary. Gallagher refused to discuss the hat’s whereabouts with the Times. Just like many things regarding the Kennedy assassination, it remains a mystery. KERA wants to hear your JFK stories and memories. Email us at jfk@kera.org . We may contact you or use your memory in an upcoming story.

1000+ images about Hats Jackie Kennedy on Pinterest | Jfk, Rear seat and Pink suit Jackie wearing Alaskine (wool and silk) created by Oleg Cassini, pillbox hat created by Roy Halston Frowick. Paris, 1961 See More The Kennedys » Costume Design Costume Design -FR Costume Design The opportunity to create – from scratch – the many iconic fashions the Kennedy family was famous for greatly excited Costume Designer Chris Hargadon when he joined The Kennedys team as head of wardrobe. “Most costume designers like working on historical projects. This one was also expansive, covering many decades,” he says. But “it was daunting,” he admits. Each of the lead actors had 50 costumes a piece, times six, for a total of 300 pieces. The series had more than 130 secondary actors and crowds of extras – all in period garb. “We had period costumes for 3000 background extras,” he says. Many of the period pieces were bought or taken on loan from vintage stores but even those were hard to find.

“Clothes from 50 years ago fade from light exposure, especially on the shoulders from the hanger marks,” he says. To get around this problem, “we looked for old fabrics to make into new costumes of the period.” He couldn’t use new fabrics because they don’t drape and fall like fabrics of the past. He found old fabrics by throwing the net very far and shopping in LA, New York, Toronto and Montreal. He also shopped online. “A universe has opened up for people who’re selling and buying. There’s a myriad of fabrics online.” When he couldn’t find the right fabric, he improvised. To reproduce one of Jackie Kennedy’s evening gowns – originally made from raffia – he found a textured floral lace …and then layered the fabric to give it a similar effect and hand-painted it to get the right color ratio. To prepare, Hargadon did meticulous research of the photographic record. “One thing that we were blessed with is that the Kennedys are among the most documented families in the world, right from the early 1920s. There is no lack of visual reference. As the decades progressed there was also moving footage.

Even if the footage was black and white, I could ascertain the color or tone of the clothing just by looking at enough research. So we were able to reproduce the garment and its entire pattern.” Hargadon and his team of fabric designers, pattern makers, seamstresses and milliners strove to be as authentic and accurate as possible. “Everyone has a perception of the Kennedys, so it was a moral obligation for each of us involved to give our work the highest integrity,” Hargadon says. Jackie Kennedy’s Wardrobe One of the reasons why Jackie Kennedy left such a mark on the world of fashion is that she heralded in a new decade, a new age of youthful energy and optimism. Her fashion choices veered away from the ruffles, pleats and crinolines of the 1950s. “Jackie preferred a streamlined, simplified silhouette which very much fitted her physique. This silhouette was already coming into being, but once she started wearing it, it became mainstream,” Hargadon says. Jackie had been exposed to French couture when she lived in Paris before she met John F. Kennedy, and loved high elegance and wore it well.

“When her husband was elected president, she was criticized for wearing French couture as opposed to American. She was aware that she needed to wear American made clothing so she collaborated with French born, American fashion designer Oleg Cassini. Together they worked on a silhouette that worked very well for her. Her evening gowns were always streamlined with the bodice and skirt usually similar in shape. They would change the colors or add a bow or simple detail. This basically remained consistent through the three years she was in the White House,” Hargadon says. Hargadon allowed the script to dictate his choices of the garments for Katie Holmes, who plays Jackie Kennedy. “There are moments of elation and moments of sadness throughout the series, so I chose colors that would be mood representative. I specifically went for garments that were produced around or a little before the scene played.” Jackie’s dresses and suits had a simple silhouette and appealing color. “When you look at the clothes they seem very simple, but the actual construction of such a simple garment has to be perfect for it to fall properly. She was also a perfect model for this type of clothing. She had shoulders that carried the garments well; she was slim and tall, poised and with a wonderful posture.

She was a perfect blend of all of these things to create this image that has become iconic,” Hargadon says. Jackie’s suits were functional, practical and elegant, as was all her clothing. “Often she had a suit made specifically for an event. When she first came to Canada with her husband, she wore a red suit. It was the color of Mounties’ uniforms. It was very well received by Canadians. She liked a wide range of colors but pink was her signature color. “She also liked to wear a paler lower half with a darker top. That is an inversion of what we do as a general fashion rule. But the effect on her was stunning and she was able to wear just about anything that way.” One of the suits Hargadon made for Holmes was a reproduction of the black suit Jackie wore at her husband’s funeral. “The original suit was a Cassini and had interesting tassel buttons. I was fortunate to find a heavy woven wool fabric in Los Angeles.

Underneath the jacket is a beautiful, fitted sheath dress…Jackie wore the suit a fair bit in the days of her mourning, because she didn’t have a lot of black clothing so it came in handy… She borrowed the hat from her sister Lee and the veil was added after.” Hargadon says that right from the beginning – at the President’s inauguration in Washington – Jackie made a fashion statement and stood out from the crowd. “Her coat was cream colored cashmere with sable collar and matching pillbox hat. She looked different than the other women who wore fur or heavy, dark garments.” Hargadon produced a replica, with the same big buttons and hand stitched pockets. “We made it from lighter weight cashmere because we were shooting in summer and didn’t want Katie to get heat exhaustion.” Loreen Lightfoot, a cutter and milliner on The Kennedys crew, hand made all the hats worn by the women in the show. One creation was the pillbox hat that matched the inauguration coat. “From what I understand, Jackie Kennedy didn’t enjoy wearing hats but it became an obligation of her station in the White House.

You don’t see photos of her wearing hats in the 1950s and she didn’t wear them after the presidency either. It was a look she acquired for the White House. “Because she didn’t favor hats initially, she wore them further back on her head…She’s known for the pillbox hat, which was her signature hat, but really, she wore all types of domes and Bretons too.” Hargadon’s favorite costumes to create were Jackie’s ball gowns. Reproducing each gown was labor intensive, but he knew that they would stand out in the series because they were out of the ordinary. “At first glance the gowns look very simple, but when they’re put on they come to life.” Creating her pink silk ball gown was the most fun, he says. “The original was sewn from woven silk given to Jackie by the King of Saudi Arabia. Jackie took this fabric to American designer and A la Carte boutique owner Joan Morse, known for searching the world for flamboyant fabrics and interesting textiles.

I showed a picture of the gown to a textile designer friend who had studied in Italy and she beautifully reproduced the pattern with paint and hand-stencilling.” Hargadon appreciated the close collaboration he had with Katie Holmes who, “always was receptive with all the things we presented her because she loved Jackie’s style in clothes, the simplicity of the lines, the fabrics and workmanship. She came with a lot of research under her belt and she had certain likes,” he says. Jackie Kennedy revolutionized fashion. She was wildly imitated. Mannequins in New York stores were dressed in knock-offs of Jackie originals. “She was one of those rare women throughout history who influence a wide range of people.” When Jackie left the White House she could wear what she wanted. She liked wearing pants and was often photographed in them in the late 1960s when she was constantly followed by paparazzi. “At that point she was heralding in the 1970s with her low cut pants, fitted tops and large sunglasses. It was a completely different look,” Hargadon says.

Dressing The Kennedy Men It was also a challenge to create suits for the actors playing the Kennedy men because it was difficult to find fabrics of the right weight. The structure of the suits and their silhouettes were very different 50 years ago than they are today. “Even if you give a modern tailor specific instructions, they are not used to cutting pant legs like that and using zippers that long, etc. They try, but I am never 100 percent satisfied,” Hargadon says. The costumes for Jack Kennedy had to be created for two men: John White, who plays JFK as a young man up to 1946 and for Greg Kinnear who plays Jack to 1963. “The young Jack was less put together, and less concerned with his presentation. But Jack the president was very refined in his tailoring. We bought some of his suits as originals and we built all the others,” Hargadon says. He had to study historical photographs very closely to discover what patterns Kennedy liked in his suits and ties.

“I also wanted to have some power colors in there, so when he’s in a room full of men in dark suits, he wouldn’t be dressed identically but in a combination of color tones.” Bobby was a different fashion person than his older brother JFK. “Someone described him as scruffy but preppy. He had all the beautifully made clothes but once he put them he didn’t pay much attention to them. You see pictures of him with his cuffs hanging down or his tie tucked into his shirt to get it out of the way,” Hargadon says. “We built most of the suits for Bobby and tried finding authentic period clothing wherever we could.” Dressing Tom Wilkinson who plays Joe Kennedy Sr. and Diana Hardcastle who plays Rose Kennedy was a challenge because their roles traverse a 40 year span. “They were both a joy to dress. Diana loves clothes and she was very responsive to all different styles and really enjoys vintage as well. Tom was a good sport too; he had a lot of changes and I was always at his trailer door asking for a fitting. He’d comply as long as it was done quickly.”

Question: What type of hat was famously worn by Jackie Kennedy?
Answer: Pill Box