Suggestive of a bride or a debutante, Jacqueline Kennedy chose a white Oleg Cassini evening gown for her ’First Lady’ premiere. Jackie considered white “the most ceremonial colour” and she chose shades of it for both her inaugural gown for Thursday’s gala and her inaugural dress for Friday’s ball.
Made from ivory double-faced silk satin twill, the gown was a masterstroke of imagemaking. Otherwise stripped of embellishment, the dress had a single telling detail in the cockade that hovers at the waist. A formalized rosette of fabric, the cockade had its roots in the field of battle, where it was worn as a badge of loyalty. It also pointed to Jackie’s pride in her French Bouvier ancestry, her profound love for history and her particular affinity with the eighteenth century.
On the night of January 19th, 1961, Jacqueline’s ensemble consisted of sleeve-length gloves and an emerald necklace her husband gave her for becoming the First Lady.
(via thepoliticalb)
