Jackie Kennedy Style

Wouldn't we all just want to copy Jackie O's style just once? Sometimes I find a pattern that is so Jackie, I want to swoon.

I have a lot of back stock and have no idea how this one didn't get put in my shop before now.  You can find it here.The cape with the front button and notched collar just send me. And anytime I see a pillbox hat, I think of Jackie Kennedy's style in the White House. I was a very impressionable preteen and teen while she was the First Lady. Her grace and fashion sense will always be unequaled for me regardless of who wins presidential elections from now on.

What were some of the elements of her style? Silhouette for one thing. Slim, column dresses always make me think of her. Accessories like short gloves and those glorious pillbox hats, and a string of pearls on a black dress always bring her back to me.

And since we're talking about patterns, it is amusing to me how one person can define an era. When you look at pattern envelopes, you often find one person's look copied. There are a ton of patterns from the early sixties that remind me either of Jackie or Audrey Hepburn. There's also a time when a lot of women on pattern envelopes looked like Marlo Thomas. She even had her own line of clothing. Pattern companies weren't stupid. They knew that they could sell patterns if they sold you the dream of looking like a fashion icon.

You Are Always in Style When You Dress With Simplicity

"You are always in style when you dress with Simplicity" was the motto of the Simplicity pattern company in the 30s. Notice the NRA blue eagle on this pattern. Who remembers the NRA from American History class? (And no, it's not the National Rifle Association.) Click on the link for a history lesson that's timely today regardless of your political persuasion.

This pattern is amazing. I love that cape collar. And the fact that the girl won the tennis trophy. I'm sure it's because she felt so confident wearing such a chic outfit.

It's one of the oldest I've owned. It's hard to date Simplicity patterns as they have no copyright, but the logo dates it to the early 30s. Unprinted, it shows you how to put the shorts and dress together with dots punched into tissue paper. The amount of labor and care that went into the construction of a child's play outfit shows you a lot about the life of a woman then and now. If you click on the photo of the back of the envelope, you see the complexity of the pattern. No zippers or elastic casings here.

Also take a gander at those fabric suggestions: pique, linen, silk shirting and tub silks. When was the last time you sent one of your little ones out to play in silk?