Jackie Kennedy’s Style Encapsulated in 10 Rooms on Houzz
We can just imagine the stylish former US First Lady in one of these fabulous midcentury rooms
First Ladies have been on the radar lately – new movie Jackie hits cinemas on February 16, and the US welcomed a new First Lady into the White House. The film follows its eponymous protagonist, played by Natalie Portman, in the tumultuous seven days after the shocking assassination of her husband, President John F Kennedy. Set in 1963, the movie has impressed critics and earned Portman a Bafta nomination for her role.
You can watch the trailer here. As you’ll see, it’s sure to be a tear-jerker, but also, fittingly, a very stylish film – and the perfect prompt to revisit some classic Jacqueline Kennedy midcentury style moments.
You can watch the trailer here. As you’ll see, it’s sure to be a tear-jerker, but also, fittingly, a very stylish film – and the perfect prompt to revisit some classic Jacqueline Kennedy midcentury style moments.
Lighten up
If you think your renovation plans feel overwhelming, put yourself in the former First Lady’s shoes, faced, in 1961, with a White House in need of a decorative overhaul (she had the presidential home painstakingly restored the same year). According to the White House Museum, the building has 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms across four storeys, a basement and a sub-basement. There are also 412 doors, 147 windows, 28 fireplaces and eight staircases.
Jacqueline Kennedy initially hired the interior designer Sister Parish (her actual name; she wasn’t a nun, as some journalists apparently assumed at the time). Parish and the First Lady started work on the West Sitting Hall, increasing light by painting it off-white and removing the heavy floral, square-edged curtains that hid the room’s instantly recognisable half-moon window, and adding sheer drapes instead.
The space pictured here has plenty of Mrs K-style flourishes: an elegant chandelier, a flash of modernity in the space-age-style wall lamp, and luxe but understated finishes for a timeless result.
If you think your renovation plans feel overwhelming, put yourself in the former First Lady’s shoes, faced, in 1961, with a White House in need of a decorative overhaul (she had the presidential home painstakingly restored the same year). According to the White House Museum, the building has 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms across four storeys, a basement and a sub-basement. There are also 412 doors, 147 windows, 28 fireplaces and eight staircases.
Jacqueline Kennedy initially hired the interior designer Sister Parish (her actual name; she wasn’t a nun, as some journalists apparently assumed at the time). Parish and the First Lady started work on the West Sitting Hall, increasing light by painting it off-white and removing the heavy floral, square-edged curtains that hid the room’s instantly recognisable half-moon window, and adding sheer drapes instead.
The space pictured here has plenty of Mrs K-style flourishes: an elegant chandelier, a flash of modernity in the space-age-style wall lamp, and luxe but understated finishes for a timeless result.
Tap into some Hamptons chic
Being close to the sea was important to the Kennedys. The young Jackie spent summers at her family’s holiday house in the Hamptons and, after meeting the future president, at the Kennedy family compound in Nantucket.
During Jackie’s engagement to JFK, the couple were also captured sailing on his yacht, Victura, in a set of instantly recognisable photographs. One of the black and white images from the shoot was used as a LIFE magazine cover in 1953.
12 Essential Ingredients for a Classic Hamptons-Style Kitchen
Being close to the sea was important to the Kennedys. The young Jackie spent summers at her family’s holiday house in the Hamptons and, after meeting the future president, at the Kennedy family compound in Nantucket.
During Jackie’s engagement to JFK, the couple were also captured sailing on his yacht, Victura, in a set of instantly recognisable photographs. One of the black and white images from the shoot was used as a LIFE magazine cover in 1953.
12 Essential Ingredients for a Classic Hamptons-Style Kitchen
Add a dash of yellow
Yellow is a colour the First Lady wore a lot, and it’s the shade a pregnant Natalie Portman picked for the Jackie-esque retro outfit she wore to the Golden Globes this month.
A clean-lined, midcentury-style chair on elegant slim legs, like this mustard number, is the seating equivalent of one of Mrs Kennedy’s iconic shift dresses: stylish, yet simple and timeless.
So Your Style Is: Mid-Century Modern
Yellow is a colour the First Lady wore a lot, and it’s the shade a pregnant Natalie Portman picked for the Jackie-esque retro outfit she wore to the Golden Globes this month.
A clean-lined, midcentury-style chair on elegant slim legs, like this mustard number, is the seating equivalent of one of Mrs Kennedy’s iconic shift dresses: stylish, yet simple and timeless.
So Your Style Is: Mid-Century Modern
Depict what you love
The Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House still has – for now, at least – the elaborate wallpaper installed by Jacqueline Kennedy in 1961, which was based on 1820 engravings. More of a mural than conventional wallpaper, it depicted American pastoral landmarks.
While that’s unlikely to be suitable for a semi in Leeds, for example, a large-format reproduction of a painting or drawing can be a striking detail to add to any space. Choose your wall wisely – the larger, or at least the clearer, the better.
It makes sense that a presidential residence should reflect the country governed from inside its walls, but you could go for a favourite holiday destination or a piece of local history instead.
The Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House still has – for now, at least – the elaborate wallpaper installed by Jacqueline Kennedy in 1961, which was based on 1820 engravings. More of a mural than conventional wallpaper, it depicted American pastoral landmarks.
While that’s unlikely to be suitable for a semi in Leeds, for example, a large-format reproduction of a painting or drawing can be a striking detail to add to any space. Choose your wall wisely – the larger, or at least the clearer, the better.
It makes sense that a presidential residence should reflect the country governed from inside its walls, but you could go for a favourite holiday destination or a piece of local history instead.
Stay sweet, not sickly
Mrs Kennedy was often seen wearing soft, midcentury pastels, but never in the form of anything too fussy. There might be the odd bow, but her well-cut dresses were typically simple shifts.
An upholstered rose headboard – with just a dash of embellishment in the buttoning – is suitably elegant, timeless and just the right side of girlie to pay homage to the look at home.
Mrs Kennedy was often seen wearing soft, midcentury pastels, but never in the form of anything too fussy. There might be the odd bow, but her well-cut dresses were typically simple shifts.
An upholstered rose headboard – with just a dash of embellishment in the buttoning – is suitably elegant, timeless and just the right side of girlie to pay homage to the look at home.
Work in a dash of Hermès
Almost as famously associated with Mrs Kennedy as her oversized sunglasses were the Hermès scarves the First Lady frequently wore tied around her hair.
You might not manage to stumble across a giant, brass homage to the brand to hang on your wall, as in this glamorous bathroom, but there are other ways to incorporate this style staple into a room. You could pick up a vintage scarf (be prepared to see it as an investment – they’re not cheap) and have it framed as a piece of wall art. Pick the right colours for your scheme; they’re beautiful things. Or turn it into one side of a large cushion cover.
Alternatively, look out for other vintage accessories with the magic logo – an old Hermès tray would also work well on a wall.
Almost as famously associated with Mrs Kennedy as her oversized sunglasses were the Hermès scarves the First Lady frequently wore tied around her hair.
You might not manage to stumble across a giant, brass homage to the brand to hang on your wall, as in this glamorous bathroom, but there are other ways to incorporate this style staple into a room. You could pick up a vintage scarf (be prepared to see it as an investment – they’re not cheap) and have it framed as a piece of wall art. Pick the right colours for your scheme; they’re beautiful things. Or turn it into one side of a large cushion cover.
Alternatively, look out for other vintage accessories with the magic logo – an old Hermès tray would also work well on a wall.
Have a mane attraction
“If you have any trouble with Jackie, put her on a horse,” John ‘Black Jack’ Vernou Bouvier III told John F Kennedy: a father-in-law’s advice to his daughter’s husband.
Her family’s summer house in the Hamptons had stabling for eight horses and the young Jackie was first put on a steed at the age of one, was a regular at the East Hampton Horse Show, and remained a keen horsewoman throughout her life.
The epic physicality of horses translates very well into photography, and a large-format equine image will make for a striking centrepiece to a living room or above a bed.
“If you have any trouble with Jackie, put her on a horse,” John ‘Black Jack’ Vernou Bouvier III told John F Kennedy: a father-in-law’s advice to his daughter’s husband.
Her family’s summer house in the Hamptons had stabling for eight horses and the young Jackie was first put on a steed at the age of one, was a regular at the East Hampton Horse Show, and remained a keen horsewoman throughout her life.
The epic physicality of horses translates very well into photography, and a large-format equine image will make for a striking centrepiece to a living room or above a bed.
Be ready for cocktail o’clock
Before she met John F Kennedy, the then Jacqueline Bouvier lived in Paris, studying at the Sorbonne. It was during this period that she’s said to have developed a fondness for cocktails and, according to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: A Life Beyond Her Wildest Dreams by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince (Blood Moon Productions), the First Lady-to-be enjoyed a daily tipple at the city’s Ritz hotel.
She later caused a stir when she introduced this European trend to the White House, shaking up the erstwhile tradition of serving punch before dinner. Great idea! And what better way to encourage such a chic habit than by installing your own 1960s-look mini bar. In the style of Mrs K, keep it classy rather than kitsch by going for unfussy lines and introducing monochrome, geometrics – or, as here, both. Steer clear of pineapple or palm tree motifs and novelty glasses and make it dignified enough for a midcentury president, too.
10 Locations Where a Bar Cart Will Bring the Party
Before she met John F Kennedy, the then Jacqueline Bouvier lived in Paris, studying at the Sorbonne. It was during this period that she’s said to have developed a fondness for cocktails and, according to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: A Life Beyond Her Wildest Dreams by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince (Blood Moon Productions), the First Lady-to-be enjoyed a daily tipple at the city’s Ritz hotel.
She later caused a stir when she introduced this European trend to the White House, shaking up the erstwhile tradition of serving punch before dinner. Great idea! And what better way to encourage such a chic habit than by installing your own 1960s-look mini bar. In the style of Mrs K, keep it classy rather than kitsch by going for unfussy lines and introducing monochrome, geometrics – or, as here, both. Steer clear of pineapple or palm tree motifs and novelty glasses and make it dignified enough for a midcentury president, too.
10 Locations Where a Bar Cart Will Bring the Party
Introduce some classic pearl
When you think of classic Jackie O style, it’s hard not to think of her famous three-string pearl necklace, worn over some of her most iconic outfits.
The pearls were, in fact, fake – but that didn’t stop them fetching about $310,000 when they went up for auction at Sotheby’s in 1996. And you can fake it, too. Pearlescent mosaic tiles will add a First Lady flash of low-key glamour to surfaces in your home. The trick to making it work? Stick close to your source of inspiration and don’t go overboard. A basin backsplash or bath panel can look particularly good, or take on, as here, the front of a washbasin stand.
In the bedroom, keep it simple by opting instead of mother-of-pearl accessories for your dressing table, and go for a classily muted look with a neutral colour scheme.
TELL US
What makes classic style for you? Tell us in the Comments below.
MORE
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When you think of classic Jackie O style, it’s hard not to think of her famous three-string pearl necklace, worn over some of her most iconic outfits.
The pearls were, in fact, fake – but that didn’t stop them fetching about $310,000 when they went up for auction at Sotheby’s in 1996. And you can fake it, too. Pearlescent mosaic tiles will add a First Lady flash of low-key glamour to surfaces in your home. The trick to making it work? Stick close to your source of inspiration and don’t go overboard. A basin backsplash or bath panel can look particularly good, or take on, as here, the front of a washbasin stand.
In the bedroom, keep it simple by opting instead of mother-of-pearl accessories for your dressing table, and go for a classily muted look with a neutral colour scheme.
TELL US
What makes classic style for you? Tell us in the Comments below.
MORE
5 Shimmering Materials to Add Tasteful Bling to Your Abode
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Classic is a word often used to describe the Jacqueline Kennedy look. And it doesn’t get much more classic in interiors than neutrals and white.
Here, there are some elegant, midcentury-reminiscent details in the Perspex chair, crystal drawer knobs and lighting, but more than anything, it’s a feminine but not fussy space: Jackie all over.