Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Jackie O


Jackie and her husband Aristotle Onassis leave an Athens club at 7 a.m. after celebrating her 40th birthday, 1969. Photo: Nicholas Tsikourias/Getty Images


On what would have been her 80th birthday, I'm going to suggest a shockingly revisionist theory - that Jacqueline Kennedy's years as Mrs. Onassis (from 1968 - 1975) were not the emotional wasteland of popular opinion but an interesting and refreshing period of her life. My evidence is the pictures from this period selected by Life Magazine for their website. I'll let you judge for yourselves.

To me she looks happy and stylish, while Aristotle looks surprisingly hip in a proto-90s/Tom Ford jet-set way. I seem to be obsessing on consumerist values these days, but I feel like the current economic situation and the socio-economic and cultural values of today are so tied up with celebrity consciousness that there's much to explore and analyze and learn from.


Jackie Kennedy Onassis shops with her niece and nephew in Capri, 1970. Photo: Ron Galella/WireImage


Jackie on Madison Avenue, October 1971. Photo: Ron Galella/WireImage


New York, April 1974. Photo: Tom Wargacki/WireImage


Jackie and Aristotle Onassis dress for a night out, 1970. Photo: Tom Wargacki/WireImage

No comments: