Pink Chanel suit of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy
Encyclopedia
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy wore a double-breasted
, strawberry pink and navy trim collared Chanel
wool suit on November 22, 1963, when John F. Kennedy was assassinated
in Dallas, Texas
. Accompanying the suit was a trademark pillbox hat
in matching pink. The suit has become an emblem for her husband's assassination and one of the iconic items of fashion of the 1960s. It has been variously described as "a famous pink suit which will forever be embedded in America's historical conscience", as "one of those indelible images Americans had stored: Jackie in the blood-stained pink Chanel suit", as "the most legendary garment in American history", and as "emblematic of the ending of innocence". Jacqueline Kennedy was a fashion icon, and this outfit is arguably the most referenced and revisited of all of her items of clothing and her trademark.
After President Kennedy was assassinated, Jacqueline Kennedy insisted on wearing the suit, stained with his blood, during the swearing-in of Lyndon B. Johnson
and for the flight back to Washington, D.C.
with the President’s body. The suit is now stored out of public view in the National Archives
. It will not be seen by the public until at least 2103, according to a deed of Caroline Kennedy
, Kennedy's sole surviving heir. At that time, when the 100-year deed expires, the Kennedy family will renegotiate the matter.
, who endorsed a color which, according to cultural historian Karal Ann Marling, was called "Mamie Pink." Given that the Chanel suit was a strong statement of an independent woman, the color pink has an element of traditional femininity, perhaps evading the foreign and feminist attributes associated with the Chanel suit in a conservative American society.
Before John F. Kennedy departed for Dallas he asked his wife what she planned to wear. In an interview with William Manchester
after the event, Kennedy said that her husband had told her:
The pink suit, which, it was said, was one of her husband's "particular favorites", had first been shown by Coco Chanel
in her 1961 autumn/winter collection. Photographs exist of Kennedy wearing the suit – or one very similar to it – in Washington D.C. in November 1961, to church on November 12, 1961, in London on March 26, 1962, in Washington D.C. in September 1962, in Lafayette Square on September 26, 1962, at the visit by the King of Algeria on October 15, 1962 and the visit of the Maharaja of Jaipur on October 23, 1962. After the last of these occasions, she was apparently not photographed wearing it until the day of the assassination, when she was pictured in it at Fort Worth and Dallas leading up to the assassination, having been revealed wearing it after stepping out of the Air Force One
aircraft.
The suit was double-breasted
, with three gold buttons and two pockets with a navy trim on each side. The thick collar, and the trim on the sleeves and the pockets, were navy. Accompanying the suit was a trademark pillbox hat in matching pink. Kennedy completed the look with a navy blue handbag matching the collar, with a gold trim. It should be noted that most of the American public viewing pictures of the presidential couple on television and in newspapers between 1961 and 1963 would not have known the color of the suit, given that at the time of the assassination TV news was still in black and white and newspapers did not print color photographs. The color of the suit became widely known only after the publication of the Warren Commission
report in a color magazine in October 1964.
or Chez Ninon collections. A number of sources claimed it was more than likely a copy of Chanel; some asserted it was made by Chez Ninon in a New York dress salon in 1961, copying a Chanel pink bouclé
wool suit trimmed with a navy blue collar. But in her 2010 authorized biography of Coco Chanel, Justine Picardie states that the fabric, buttons and trim for the jacket came from Chanel in Paris, and that the suit was fitted for Kennedy at Chez Ninon, using what was called the "line for line" system put in place by Chanel. Picardie insists that this system had nothing to do with forgery or pirating, as is obvious from the fact that Chanel supplied the materials to Chez Ninon. The purpose of buying the garment from Chez Ninon was not to save money – the costs were the same – but to appear patriotic to the American electorate by buying her garments from the United States rather than France. The jacket in 1963 was estimated to cost $800 to $1,000.
Jacqueline Kennedy was seated in the back seat of the open-top Lincoln Continental
to Kennedy's left side as it traveled through Dallas. Immediately after Kennedy was shot in the head, the suit was spattered with his blood; when Lady Bird Johnson
saw the car at Parkland Hospital in Dallas following the assassination, she said: At the hospital, she kept her blood-stained suit on but removed her hat; its whereabouts today are unknown, and the last person known to have had it – her personal secretary, Mary Gallagher – will not discuss it. Several people asked Jacqueline Kennedy whether she would like to change her suit but she refused. She told Lady Bird, who had asked her whether she wished to have someone in to help her change: Despite the advice of John F. Kennedy's physician, Admiral George Burkley, who "gently tried to persuade her to change out of her gore-soaked pink Chanel suit," she wore the suit alongside Lyndon B. Johnson
as he was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States
. In the photograph of the inauguration (right), the blood stains cannot be seen as they were on the right-hand side of the suit. Lady Bird recalls that during the swearing-in on Air Force One:
Kennedy had no regrets about refusing to take the blood-stained suit off; her only regret was that she had washed the blood off her face before Johnson was sworn in.
Kennedy continued to buy Chanel clothes for a time after the assassination, and would send a secretary on a private jet from Aristotle Onassis
's Greek island of Skorpios
to Paris to buy bottles of Chanel No. 5
scent from the House of Chanel boutique in rue Cambon. Following the assassination, Coco Chanel was never heard to pass comment on the blood-stained suit, although she did remark upon Jackie Kennedy's fondness for wearing miniskirts, saying that "she wears her daughter's clothes."
wore a copy of the suit in her portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy in the mini-series The Kennedys. However, the Chanel copy was recreated by Giorgio Armani
. The suit has also featured on The Simpsons
in the episodes "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield
" and "Bart-Mangled Banner
". Also, a mini copy of the suit was used by Lisa Simpson in the episode "The President Wore Pearls".
Double-breasted
In clothing, the term double-breasted refers to a coat or jacket with wide, overlapping front flaps and two parallel columns of buttons or snaps; by contrast, a single-breasted coat has a narrow overlap and only one column of buttons. In most modern double-breasted coats, one column of buttons is...
, strawberry pink and navy trim collared Chanel
Chanel
Chanel S.A. is a French fashion house founded by the couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, well established in haute couture, specializing in luxury goods . She gained the name "Coco" while maintaining a career as a singer at a café in France...
wool suit on November 22, 1963, when John F. Kennedy was assassinated
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
in Dallas, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. Accompanying the suit was a trademark pillbox hat
Pillbox hat
A pillbox hat is a small woman's hat with a flat crown and straight, upright sides, and no brim.-History:Historically, the pillbox was also military headgear, often including a chin strap, and can still be seen on ceremonial occasions in some countries, especially former members of the Commonwealth...
in matching pink. The suit has become an emblem for her husband's assassination and one of the iconic items of fashion of the 1960s. It has been variously described as "a famous pink suit which will forever be embedded in America's historical conscience", as "one of those indelible images Americans had stored: Jackie in the blood-stained pink Chanel suit", as "the most legendary garment in American history", and as "emblematic of the ending of innocence". Jacqueline Kennedy was a fashion icon, and this outfit is arguably the most referenced and revisited of all of her items of clothing and her trademark.
After President Kennedy was assassinated, Jacqueline Kennedy insisted on wearing the suit, stained with his blood, during the swearing-in of Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
and for the flight back to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
with the President’s body. The suit is now stored out of public view in the National Archives
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents, which comprise the National Archives...
. It will not be seen by the public until at least 2103, according to a deed of Caroline Kennedy
Caroline Kennedy
Caroline Bouvier Kennedy is an American author and attorney. She is a member of the influential Kennedy family and the only surviving child of U.S. President John F...
, Kennedy's sole surviving heir. At that time, when the 100-year deed expires, the Kennedy family will renegotiate the matter.
The suit as fashion
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Chanel suit was one of the strongest symbols of bourgeois female chic that could be found anywhere in the Western world, evoking a powerful image of a classy, intelligent and independent modern woman. During this era it became the "wardrobe staple of the upwardly mobile American female which could fit almost every daytime occasion that required a woman to dress stylishly." Although women wearing pink in the 21st century is common, pink was new to fashion in the 1950s and was a color loved and even popularized to an extent in American fashion by Mamie EisenhowerMamie Eisenhower
Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower was the wife of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and First Lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961.-Early life:...
, who endorsed a color which, according to cultural historian Karal Ann Marling, was called "Mamie Pink." Given that the Chanel suit was a strong statement of an independent woman, the color pink has an element of traditional femininity, perhaps evading the foreign and feminist attributes associated with the Chanel suit in a conservative American society.
Before John F. Kennedy departed for Dallas he asked his wife what she planned to wear. In an interview with William Manchester
William Manchester
William Raymond Manchester was an American author, biographer, and historian from Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, notable as the bestselling author of 18 books that have been translated into over 20 languages...
after the event, Kennedy said that her husband had told her:
The pink suit, which, it was said, was one of her husband's "particular favorites", had first been shown by Coco Chanel
Coco Chanel
Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist thought, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion. She was the founder of one of the most famous fashion brands, Chanel...
in her 1961 autumn/winter collection. Photographs exist of Kennedy wearing the suit – or one very similar to it – in Washington D.C. in November 1961, to church on November 12, 1961, in London on March 26, 1962, in Washington D.C. in September 1962, in Lafayette Square on September 26, 1962, at the visit by the King of Algeria on October 15, 1962 and the visit of the Maharaja of Jaipur on October 23, 1962. After the last of these occasions, she was apparently not photographed wearing it until the day of the assassination, when she was pictured in it at Fort Worth and Dallas leading up to the assassination, having been revealed wearing it after stepping out of the Air Force One
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. In common parlance the term refers to those Air Force aircraft whose primary mission is to transport the president; however, any U.S. Air Force aircraft...
aircraft.
The suit was double-breasted
Double-breasted
In clothing, the term double-breasted refers to a coat or jacket with wide, overlapping front flaps and two parallel columns of buttons or snaps; by contrast, a single-breasted coat has a narrow overlap and only one column of buttons. In most modern double-breasted coats, one column of buttons is...
, with three gold buttons and two pockets with a navy trim on each side. The thick collar, and the trim on the sleeves and the pockets, were navy. Accompanying the suit was a trademark pillbox hat in matching pink. Kennedy completed the look with a navy blue handbag matching the collar, with a gold trim. It should be noted that most of the American public viewing pictures of the presidential couple on television and in newspapers between 1961 and 1963 would not have known the color of the suit, given that at the time of the assassination TV news was still in black and white and newspapers did not print color photographs. The color of the suit became widely known only after the publication of the Warren Commission
Warren Commission
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established on November 27, 1963, by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
report in a color magazine in October 1964.
Chez Ninon "line for line" system
There has been considerable debate among fashion historians and experts as to whether or not the suit was a genuine Chanel item or a quality copy purchased from New York's semiannual Karl LagerfeldKarl Lagerfeld
Karl Lagerfeld is a German fashion designer, artist and photographer based in Paris. He has collaborated on a variety of fashion and art related projects, most notably as head designer and creative director for the fashion house Chanel...
or Chez Ninon collections. A number of sources claimed it was more than likely a copy of Chanel; some asserted it was made by Chez Ninon in a New York dress salon in 1961, copying a Chanel pink bouclé
Bouclé
Bouclé is a kind of novelty yarn. It is a yarn with a length of loops of similar size which can range from tiny circlets to large curls. To make bouclé, at least two strands are combined, with the tension on one strand being much looser than the other as it is being plied, with the loose strand...
wool suit trimmed with a navy blue collar. But in her 2010 authorized biography of Coco Chanel, Justine Picardie states that the fabric, buttons and trim for the jacket came from Chanel in Paris, and that the suit was fitted for Kennedy at Chez Ninon, using what was called the "line for line" system put in place by Chanel. Picardie insists that this system had nothing to do with forgery or pirating, as is obvious from the fact that Chanel supplied the materials to Chez Ninon. The purpose of buying the garment from Chez Ninon was not to save money – the costs were the same – but to appear patriotic to the American electorate by buying her garments from the United States rather than France. The jacket in 1963 was estimated to cost $800 to $1,000.
Assassination
Lincoln Continental
The Lincoln Continental is an automobile which was produced by the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company from 1939 to 1948 and again from 1956 to 2002...
to Kennedy's left side as it traveled through Dallas. Immediately after Kennedy was shot in the head, the suit was spattered with his blood; when Lady Bird Johnson
Lady Bird Johnson
Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969 during the presidency of her husband Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout her life, she was an advocate for beautification of the nation's cities and highways and conservation of natural resources and made that...
saw the car at Parkland Hospital in Dallas following the assassination, she said: At the hospital, she kept her blood-stained suit on but removed her hat; its whereabouts today are unknown, and the last person known to have had it – her personal secretary, Mary Gallagher – will not discuss it. Several people asked Jacqueline Kennedy whether she would like to change her suit but she refused. She told Lady Bird, who had asked her whether she wished to have someone in to help her change: Despite the advice of John F. Kennedy's physician, Admiral George Burkley, who "gently tried to persuade her to change out of her gore-soaked pink Chanel suit," she wore the suit alongside Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
as he was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. In the photograph of the inauguration (right), the blood stains cannot be seen as they were on the right-hand side of the suit. Lady Bird recalls that during the swearing-in on Air Force One:
Kennedy had no regrets about refusing to take the blood-stained suit off; her only regret was that she had washed the blood off her face before Johnson was sworn in.
Aftermath
When she finally removed her suit the following morning, her maid folded it and placed it in a box. Some days after the assassination this box was dispatched to Jacqueline Kennedy's mother, who wrote "November 22nd 1963" on the top of the box and stored it in her attic. Eventually the box was given to the National Archives in Maryland, together with a note, not signed, on Jackie Kennedy's mother's letterhead stationery, that read: "Jackie's suit and bag worn Nov. 22, 1963." The suit, which was never cleaned, is kept out of public view in "an acid-free container in a windowless room ... the precise location is kept secret. The temperature hovers between 65 and 68 degrees; the humidity is 40 percent; the air is changed six times an hour."Kennedy continued to buy Chanel clothes for a time after the assassination, and would send a secretary on a private jet from Aristotle Onassis
Aristotle Onassis
Aristotle Sokratis Onassis , commonly called Ari or Aristo Onassis, was a prominent Greek shipping magnate.- Early life :Onassis was born in Karatass, a suburb of Smyrna to Socrates and Penelope Onassis...
's Greek island of Skorpios
Skorpios
Skorpios is a private island in the Ionian Sea off the western coast of Greece and just to the east of the island of Lefkada. The 2001 census reported a population of two inhabitants...
to Paris to buy bottles of Chanel No. 5
Chanel No. 5
Chanel No. 5 is the first perfume launched by Parisian couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. The French government reports that a bottle of Chanel No. 5 is sold every thirty seconds and generates sales of $100 million a year. It was developed by Russian-French chemist and perfumer Ernest Beaux...
scent from the House of Chanel boutique in rue Cambon. Following the assassination, Coco Chanel was never heard to pass comment on the blood-stained suit, although she did remark upon Jackie Kennedy's fondness for wearing miniskirts, saying that "she wears her daughter's clothes."
Cultural references
The suit has been well referenced and replicated in American theater and film. In 2011, Katie HolmesKatie Holmes
Katherine Noelle "Katie" Holmes is an American actress who first achieved fame for her role as Joey Potter on The WB television teen drama Dawson's Creek from 1998 to 2003. Her movie roles have included the blockbuster Batman Begins along with art house films such as The Ice Storm and thrillers...
wore a copy of the suit in her portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy in the mini-series The Kennedys. However, the Chanel copy was recreated by Giorgio Armani
Giorgio Armani
Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer, particularly noted for his menswear. He is known today for his clean, tailored lines. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, and by 2001 was acclaimed as the most successful designer to come out of Italy, with an annual turnover of $1.6 billion and a...
. The suit has also featured on The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
in the episodes "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield
Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield
"Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield" is the 14th episode of The Simpsons seventh season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 4, 1996. In the episode, Marge buys a Chanel suit and is invited to join the Springfield Country Club...
" and "Bart-Mangled Banner
Bart-Mangled Banner
"Bart-Mangled Banner" is the twenty-first episode from The Simpsons fifteenth season. It aired on May 16, 2004 on FOX.-Plot:Homer and Marge take the kids to get their shots. Just before Dr. Hibbert is about to inject Bart, he escapes. After a chase through town, Hibbert finally outsmarts Bart and...
". Also, a mini copy of the suit was used by Lisa Simpson in the episode "The President Wore Pearls".