Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years
Metropolitan Museum of Art
May 1 though July 29, 2001

The exhibition of some 80 original costumes and accessories from the collection of the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, to which the former First Lady donated these landmark pieces after she left the White House. The collection embraces key elements from her formal White House wardrobe – what Mrs. Kennedy herself called her "state clothes" – as well as pieces worn during her husband's 1960 presidential campaign. Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years—Selections from the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum will be at the Metropolitan Museum of Art  from May 1^st through July 29^th.

"Jacqueline Kennedy is one of history's great style icons," said Hamish Bowles, European editor-at-large of Vogue. "Her profound influence on the way an entire generation wanted to look, dress, and behave cannot be overestimated. She set the standards that American women strove to follow, and, on the world stage, provided a visual metaphor for the youth and promise of the Kennedy administration. She galvanized both the fashion world and the fashion press – Hollywood's preeminent designer, Edith Head, called her 'the greatest single influence [on fashion] in history' – and Women's Wear Daily coined the phrase 'Her Elegance' to denote her sovereign sway over the industry.

The exhibition will feature clothing worn by Jacqueline Kennedy on the campaign trail, during the inaugural festivities, at the White House itself, and on state visits around the world. The exhibition will acknowledge and investigate the profound impact of Jacqueline Kennedy's image, which dominated the last four decades of the 20th century and remains a continuing influence on our own.

Highlights will include keynote pieces from this period, including the fawn coat and celebrated pillbox hat, worn for the inaugural ceremonies on the steps of the Capitol on January 20, 1961; the regal ivory satin gown worn to the pre-Inaugural gala; the red dress worn for the televised tour of the White House on February 14, 1962; and a large group of formal evening clothes worn at the White House for state dinners, political entertaining, and cultural events.

Also featured will be many of the clothes worn by Mrs. Kennedy on state visits, including extensive elements from her solo trip to India and Pakistan in 1962, and the Kennedys' visit to South America in 1961. Other historic pieces will include the beaded gown in which she dazzled Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna in 1961, and, from her visit to France, also in 1961, the imperial dress and opera coat worn to President de Gaulle's state dinner at the Palace of Versailles. From her visit to Rome will come the austere black dress worn for her audience with Pope John XXIII.

According to Mr. Bowles, the costumes vividly illustrate that, as First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy's personal style choices were to prove a visual metaphor for her cultural aspirations for the White House. Under her aegis, it would become an exquisite and stylish showplace, and a background for a worldly and sophisticated mix of guests drawn from the realms of arts and culture as well as national and world politics and diplomacy.  Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years—Selections from the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, May 1 though July 29, 2001.