Glamour Girl
This is the most famous of the many photographs of Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis taken by primo paparazzo Ron Galella. New York, 1971:
And though she sued him more than once (others did worse), and though he could be a royal pain in the arse, I think you have to admit that it’s a lovely photograph and so captures Jackie’s beauty, ease, and effortlessness.
It’s precisely those qualities that many would say define the American woman. And it’s all of the above that a new exhibit at The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is heralding beginning next week.
The Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection has moved to the Metropolitan’s Costume Institute, and the museums are celebrating with an exhibition called American Woman: Fashioning A National Identity. It promises to be full of beautiful images, including that one of Jackie O, as well as compelling comparisons of the different standards of American beauty over the years.
You can read all about it in this comprehensive article from Women’s Wear Daily. Be sure to launch the slideshow to get a preview. The images of the fab Louise Brooks and the iconic Gibson Girl are especially good, the ones of Jennifer Aniston and Sarah Jessica Parker pretty classic, and the one of Chloe Sevigny just gives me the creeps.
But to each his own. What qualities do you think characterize the American woman?
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