Oleg Cassini’s book A Thousand Days of Magic tells his personal story of dressing Jackie Kennedy during her tenure as First Lady. As a behind the scenes look at what it took to perfect that vision, it makes for a fascinating read. We frequently reference Oscar Wilde’s brilliant, “Be yourself, everybody else is taken,” as one of our very favorite style mantras at Kotur. Well, here is an example of it in perfect action.

Born Oleg Aleksandrovich Loiewski, the son of aristocratic Russians, Cassini changed his name after the family fled Russia during the 1917 revolution and ended up in Italy. He started his career as a designer in Rome before landing in America on Christmas Day, 1936, equipped only (according to his autobiography,) with a tuxedo, two tennis rackets, a title and talent. He moved to Hollywood, where he established a successful career as a costume designer dressing everyone from Rita Haywoth to Joan Crawford – he also dated, and was briefly engaged to Grace Kelly. It was in 1961, however, that he embarked on his most high profile career moment – his tenure as ‘Secretary of Style,” to the Kennedy White House.

A friend of Jackie’s from the early days of her marriage, Cassini was summoned to Georgetown Hospital where she was recuperating after the birth of John soon after the election and asked to produce a series of sketches outlining his vision for her wardrobe. He tells of being terrified. With only two days to prepare, he had to somehow come up with an entire proposal for the job of a lifetime. As he writes, “suddenly, it came to me. This is like a film and you have the opportunity to dress the female star. This was not so different from my old job in Hollywood.  So, in broad outlines, I designed a concept… She was the perfect model for very simple lines – a minimalist par excellence. I wanted to dress her cleanly, architecturally, in style. I would use the most sumptuous fabrics in the purest interpretations. I called it the “A-Line.”

And so an indelible style was born, with repercussions that ripple across the fashion world still today. According to Cassini, it very nearly didn’t happen. On arriving at the hospital, he found the First Lady already surrounded by sketches submitted by designers from all around the world. He, however, offered a different vision. One in which they would redefine the perception of not only Jackie Kennedy but also of the White House, American fashion – indeed, of America.  “I want you to be the most elegant woman in the world. I think that you should start from scratch with a look… a look that will set trends and not follow them.” And she replied, “You are absolutely right.”

That look is something we can all still identify today. Clean shift dresses, pillbox hats, boxy jackets, strapless A line gowns and clearly defined uses of color spoke of a timeless simplicity as relevant now as then. Both Cassini and Kennedy were acutely aware of the rules of the job – “I will never become stuffy – but there is a dignity to the office which suddenly hits one…” wrote Jackie in a letter to Cassini – but they adhered to them with freshness, modernity and total strength of vision. In doing so, they created a persona with a power that lasted way beyond any natural lifetime.

The revised edition of Oleg Cassini’s book A Thousand Days of Magic is published by Rizzoli and out now

Photo Courtesy of www.thedress.it, agnautacouture.com, pinterest.com,  www.coletterie.com, dressingvintage.com