Nylon - November 2008 - (Page 62) first lady’s man DESIGNER OLEG CASSINI HELPED MAKE THE MOST FAMOUS RESIDENCE IN THE COUNTRY A HOUSE OF STYLE. BY FIORELLA VALDESOLO wife, the stunning film noir actress Gene Tierney. But while his Hollywood connections and high-profile relationships—he also romanced Ursula Andress, Lana Turner, and Grace Kelly, to whom he was briefly engaged—gave him name recognition among the wellheeled set, the average American woman was not yet aware of Cassini. That would all change with his appointment as the first lady’s principle couturier. And Cassini’s first design for Jackie, which she wore to her husband’s inauguration ceremony, set the bar high: a sumptuous sablecollared, beige wool coat with oversized buttons and three-quarter length sleeves, along with a matching pillbox hat. “He very much understood the notion of creating a persona, a visual identity for Mrs. Kennedy,” says Hamish Bowles, Vogue’s European editor-at-large and the man who curated a comprehensive exhibition of her clothing for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2001. As the designer himself said in 1995: “The planning was constant, the logistical invasion of every country she visited, every party she attended, the cloth, the wearer, the sensitivity of the people and what they wanted to see her in.” From the ivory, double-faced silk satin floor-length gown she Besides Ronald Reagan, Oleg Cassini is probably the sole man to go from Hollywood to the White House. Though the only change he went on to create in Washington, D.C., was in the closet of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy—she handpicked Cassini for the illustrious task of designing her state wardrobe in the ’60s. And he certainly excelled at his job. The late designer’s creations for Kennedy helped mold her into the consummate style icon that she is remembered as today. Cassini, the son of a Russian diplomat and an Italian designer (his surname is his mother’s maiden name), grew up in Florence and, thanks to his mother, developed an interest in fashion early on. After studying fine art under Giorgio de Chirico and working in France for designer Jean Patou, Cassini set his sights on Hollywood. There he worked as an assistant to legendary costumer Edith Head before nabbing a job at Paramount Pictures in the ’40s. His glamorous clothes appeared on starlets such as Joan Crawford and Veronica Lake and in films like The Shanghai Gesture (1941) and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), both of which starred his second wore to the inaugural ball, to a leopard fur evening coat (Cassini later became a devout animal rights activist and championed faux fur after realizing how many leopards were killed in an effort to imitate this design), to impeccably constructed silk A-line day dresses and ever-present pillbox hats, Cassini created more than 300 elegant ensembles for Kennedy and inspired millions of women to emulate her signature look. Cassini’s name would become synonymous with refined, body-conscious designs and, after his time in the White House ended with JFK’s assassination, he built an empire on that fact. Luggage, hosiery, shoes, wedding dresses, linens, sunglasses, and clothing for both men and children were soon part of the Cassini franchise. It was estimated at one point that worldwide sales of his merchandise reached nearly $400 million. He was an immigrant who became a fashion icon in the U.S.—and there’s nothing more distinctly American than that. top to bottom: jackie kennedy visits canada in oleg’s design; the designer; cassini and kennedy at a party; jackie and the late john f. kennedy. 62 hall of fame all photos courtesy of getty images
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