Oleg Cassini admitted in 1972, "My best creative period was from the beginning of the '50s, to the end of the Jack Kennedy years in the White House (in 1963). I was stimulated by constant success...Jacqueline Kennedy will go down in history like Cleopatra, Catherine the Great, Queen Victoria – a symbol of her time." Fashion historian Gene London added in 1988, "Jackie was the perfect symbol of fashion for that era. For one thing, she was tall and well-proportioned. It was always the coat and dress and gloves and hat. Usually in a comparable color. And for evening it was the metallic lame suit."
In November 2006, the Andy Warhol's 1964 'Sixteen Jackies' (synthetic polymer and silkscreen inks on canvas) was sold for $15,696,000 at Christie’s New York. Andy Warhol said in 1975, "The more you look at the same exact thing, the more the meaning goes away and the better and emptier you feel." In May 2011 at Sotheby's, 'Sixteen Jackies' (acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas) was sold for $18 million. Andy Warhol paid homage to the importance of "The Week That Was" using Jackie as "the vehicle to convey the message within a classic 4 x 4 grid rectangle format."
Andy Warhol made known, "I heard the news over the radio when I was alone painting in my studio. I don't think I missed a stroke. I wanted to know what was going on out there, but that was the extent of my reaction...Henry Geldzahler wanted to know why I wasn't more upset, so I told him about the time I was walking in India and saw a bunch of people in a clearing having a ball because somebody they really liked had just died and how I realized then that everything was just how you decided to think about it. I'd been thrilled having Kennedy as President; he was handsome, young, smart...What bothered me was the way the television and radio were programming everybody to feel so sad. It seemed like no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't get away from the thing."
Andy Warhol made known, "I heard the news over the radio when I was alone painting in my studio. I don't think I missed a stroke. I wanted to know what was going on out there, but that was the extent of my reaction...Henry Geldzahler wanted to know why I wasn't more upset, so I told him about the time I was walking in India and saw a bunch of people in a clearing having a ball because somebody they really liked had just died and how I realized then that everything was just how you decided to think about it. I'd been thrilled having Kennedy as President; he was handsome, young, smart...What bothered me was the way the television and radio were programming everybody to feel so sad. It seemed like no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't get away from the thing."
F. Kenneds told the Washington Star in 1980, "Not since the New Deal (the First Hundred Days of Roosevelt) had so many young people felt such an attraction to Washington (during the Thousand Days of Kennedy). You could feel the change. It wasn't just something people talk about. It was in the air. Jack brought a sense of pride to town, and everybody seemed to work harder. People who came from out of town would remark on it. He and the city of Washington were a marriage."
Liz Carpenter explained, "Washington always mirrors the style and the pace of a President. We were moving from age to youth, from the Republicans to the Democrats. Eisenhower was elected in a time when people were tired of government. Everybody wanted to be on the golf course, and he wanted to leave them there. There was no sense of urgency here. Suddenly it was hyperthyroid and upbeat and fast and there were lots of ideas. Socially under Eisenhower they were still serving finger sandwiches. Under Jackie there were tables for 8, not the straight tables of the past."
Paul Mathias made the point in 1983, "She, by surviving and being with him when he died so dramatically, became a legend in her own lifetime. And she cannot live up to it because no human being could." Mollie Parnis had declared in 1962, "I think Mrs Kennedy is a really great First Lady, the greatest influence on fashion we have ever had. She is the epitome of perfection without even trying, and that's hard. She is natural and right whether she is wearing a sleeveless dress on a boat, or has a scarf tied around it. The secret to Mrs Kennedy's talent with fashion is that there is nothing contrived or planned."
Fred Sparks told The Los Angeles Times in 1970, "There is a famous story about Jackie and ecology. When she heard of the impending dangers of the environment, Jackie was supposed to have told President Kennedy, 'Why don't they just hire planes and spray Chanel No. 5 over the country?' She doesn't think politically. She thinks jet set. And she is doing her thing."
Kenneth Jay Lane told United Feature Service in 1973, "The shirt makes a strong statement for Mrs Onassis. She has bypassed all the fashion fads to enter into a period of pronounced classicism. Whether or not designers admit it, they have followed her lead. It's all part of the new-found fashion freedom women want. It's far easier to overdress than underdress...The '20s have become nostalgic because people think of it in terms of a happy time. It was before the Depression after women became flappers." At the time, KJL stated, "Shirts haven't begun to reach their peak of popularity yet. I hope Jackie goes on wearing shirts forever. You know what she did for the pillbox hat."
Fred Sparks acknowledged in 1970, "She has made fashion designers, Seventh Avenue and hairdressers social figures and that has never happened before in real society. The fashion industry owes its new-found social position to Jackie Onassis. Jackie Onassis doesn't have to worry about what is in. She is in."
Liz Carpenter explained, "Washington always mirrors the style and the pace of a President. We were moving from age to youth, from the Republicans to the Democrats. Eisenhower was elected in a time when people were tired of government. Everybody wanted to be on the golf course, and he wanted to leave them there. There was no sense of urgency here. Suddenly it was hyperthyroid and upbeat and fast and there were lots of ideas. Socially under Eisenhower they were still serving finger sandwiches. Under Jackie there were tables for 8, not the straight tables of the past."
Paul Mathias made the point in 1983, "She, by surviving and being with him when he died so dramatically, became a legend in her own lifetime. And she cannot live up to it because no human being could." Mollie Parnis had declared in 1962, "I think Mrs Kennedy is a really great First Lady, the greatest influence on fashion we have ever had. She is the epitome of perfection without even trying, and that's hard. She is natural and right whether she is wearing a sleeveless dress on a boat, or has a scarf tied around it. The secret to Mrs Kennedy's talent with fashion is that there is nothing contrived or planned."
Fred Sparks told The Los Angeles Times in 1970, "There is a famous story about Jackie and ecology. When she heard of the impending dangers of the environment, Jackie was supposed to have told President Kennedy, 'Why don't they just hire planes and spray Chanel No. 5 over the country?' She doesn't think politically. She thinks jet set. And she is doing her thing."
Kenneth Jay Lane told United Feature Service in 1973, "The shirt makes a strong statement for Mrs Onassis. She has bypassed all the fashion fads to enter into a period of pronounced classicism. Whether or not designers admit it, they have followed her lead. It's all part of the new-found fashion freedom women want. It's far easier to overdress than underdress...The '20s have become nostalgic because people think of it in terms of a happy time. It was before the Depression after women became flappers." At the time, KJL stated, "Shirts haven't begun to reach their peak of popularity yet. I hope Jackie goes on wearing shirts forever. You know what she did for the pillbox hat."
Fred Sparks acknowledged in 1970, "She has made fashion designers, Seventh Avenue and hairdressers social figures and that has never happened before in real society. The fashion industry owes its new-found social position to Jackie Onassis. Jackie Onassis doesn't have to worry about what is in. She is in."
