Jackie Kennedy & Frank Sinatra (1960s)

Jackie Kennedy & Frank Sinatra by Oscar Abolafia. Original Press, 1960s via

Jackie Kennedy & Frank Sinatra by Oscar Abolafia. Original Press, 1960s via

Jackie Kennedy & Frank Sinatra by Oscar Abolafia. Original Press, 1960s via

Jacqueline Kennedy At Her Wedding (1953)

Jacqueline Kennedy at her wedding by Toni Frissell, 1953 via

Stunning Valentino Haute Couture (1960s)

By the mid-1960s, Valentino was a favorite designer of the world’s best-dressed women.

Valentino’s international debut took place in 1962, at the Pitti Palace in Florence. The show cemented the designer’s reputation and attracted the attention of socialites and aristocratic women from around the world. Within a few years, Valentino’s designs were considered the pinnacle of Italian couture. In 1967, he received the prestigious Neiman Marcus Fashion Award.

His client list included the Begum Aga Khan, Queen Paola of Belgium and movie stars Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn. Jacqueline Kennedy developed an interest in the designer’s work after admiring friends in several Valentino ensembles. In 1964, Kennedy ordered six dresses in black and white, which she wore during the year following the assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy (source).

In July 1962 in the last hour on the last day of the Autumn shows Valnetino was given an opportunity to present a collection that became known as Sala Bianca. The designs were showcased at the stunning ball room, the White Hall, of the Pitti Palce. Overnight, Valentino Garavani was famous internationally via

Valentino Fashion Show, Salla Bianca, Palazzo Pitti, Firenze, 1964 via

In 1964 Jacqueline Kennedy chose a Valentino dress for the wedding with Aristotle Onassis. The gown was a part of the Sfilata Bianca collection shown in 1968. If Valentino was a fashion darling of the global press and buyers before, Sfilata Bianca (and its connection to Jackie Onassis) was the final step in conquering the States and securing his position as one of the best and most influential fashion designers of our time via

Valentino, Ensemble, photographed by Henry Clarke, 1968 via

Valentino, Vogue, 1968 via

Veruschka, Valentino, Vogue, 1965 via

Wedding of Jackie Bouvier & John F. Kennedy by Lisa Larsen (1953)

Lisa Larsen (1925-1959) was one of LIFE’s poioneering female photojournalists. Born in Germany, she moved to the United States as a teenager. She started out as a picture file clerk at Black Star, but soon became a freelance photographer for many publications, including Vogue, The New York Times, Parade, Glamour, Charm, Holiday, and LIFE.

After 1948, the bulk of Larsen’s photojournalism was contract work for LIFE. In the beginning of her career at the influential magazine, she was assigned mainly entertainment and fashion stories, such as photographing the Vanderbilts, Kennedys, Bing Crosby, and the Duke of Windsor as well as the Greenbriar Hotel (source).

Bouvier and Kennedy were married on September 12, 1953, at St. Mary’s Church in Newport, Rhode Island, in a Mass celebrated by Boston’s Archbishop Richard Cushing. The wedding was considered the social event of the season with an estimated 700 guests at the ceremony and 1,200 at the reception that followed at Hammersmith Farm. The wedding dress, now housed in the Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, and the dresses of her attendants were created by designer Ann Lowe of New York City.

Lisa Larsen, Wedding of Jackie Bouvier & John F. Kennedy, September 1953 via

Lisa Larsen, Wedding of Jackie Bouvier & John F. Kennedy, September 1953 via

Lisa Larsen, Wedding of Jackie Bouvier & John F. Kennedy, September 1953 via

Lisa Larsen, John and Jacqueline Kennedy at Their Wedding Reception, September 1953 via

Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy as a Young Couple by Orlando Suero (1954)

In January 1954, the handsome junior senator from Massachusetts and his glamorous wife moved into a three-story townhouse at 3321 Dent Place in Georgetown. Although they would live here for only five months, the house was their first home after their wedding— the society event of the decade—and a place from which they could begin to prepare for the next step in their lives, one that would take John and Jacqueline Kennedy to the White House.

In May of that year, Orlando Suero, a photographer with the Three Lions Picture Agency on his first major assignment, spent five days with the Kennedys. In more than twenty photo sessions, Suero documented a typical week in the young couple’s life. He enjoyed their full cooperation and the intimate access that would later, as Jacqueline became more anxious about her family’s privacy, be denied to all but a few.

Suero’s photographs capture the idyllic quality of the young couple’s lives during their months in Georgetown. Not yet hounded by the media, John and Jacqueline in these images seem happier and more at ease than they would ever be again (source).

Jacqueline Kennedy by Orlando Suero, 1954 via

Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy by Orlando Suero, 1954 via

Jacqueline Kennedy by Orlando Suero, 1954 via

Jacqueline Kennedy by Orlando Suero, 1954 via

Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy by Orlando Suero, 1954 via

Jacqueline Kennedy by Orlando Suero, 1954 via

Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy by Orlando Suero, 1954 via

Lee and Jackie at a Debutante Ball (1951)

Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill by Cecil Beaton for Vogue at a debutante ball, 1951 via

Lee Radziwill and Jackie Kennedy Onassis by Cecil Beaton for Vogue at a debutante ball, 1951 via

Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis by Cecil Beaton for Vogue, 1951 via

by Cecil Beaton, bromide print, January 1951

Lee Radziwill by Cecil Beaton for Vogue at a debutante ball, 1951 via

Costume and Fashion Designer Oleg Cassini (1913-2006)

Oleg Cassini (1913 – 2006) was an American fashion designer born to an aristocratic Russian family with maternal Italian ancestry. He came to the United States as a young man after starting as a designer in Rome, and quickly got work with Paramount Pictures.

Cassini established his reputation by designing for films. He gained additional renown by designing for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. “The Jackie Look” was highly influential in American design.

He also designed for Rita Hayworth, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood and Gene Tierney whom he married in 1941; they separated after the birth of their first daughter. She began a romance with John F. Kennedy. Their romance was short lived as he could never marry her because of his political ambitions. She reconciled with Cassini and they had a second daughter. This marriage lasted until 1952 and they remained friends.

After his divorce Cassini and Grace Kelly were briefly engaged, but her family would not approve the marriage as he was 16 years her senior, twice divorced, had 2 children and was non-catholic.

Oleg Cassini designed this gown for Gene Tierney, though a speedy elopement meant it was never made and worn. Five years later, the gown saw the light of day for Gene’s role in the movie Razor’s Edge (1946), for which Oleg designed her costumes via

Marilyn wore a smoldering red Oleg Cassini velvet gown to accept her Best Young Box Office Personality award in 1951. She later wore it for a sensual publicity portrait via

Grace Kelly at the premiere of Rear Window, 1954. Her dress was designed by Oleg Cassini who was her escort that evening. Photo by Frank Worth via

Oleg Cassini dressing Lana Turner via

Jackie Kennedy Onassis in iconic 1961 Presidential Inauguration gown by Oleg Cassini via