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Two Fashion Icons: Katharine Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy Onassis

© Anne Paxton

A cultural or fashion icon is a person of style that endures the test of time. Two true fashion icons, women who have remained in people’s minds and to this day still elicit respect, are Katharine Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy.

Fashion Icon #1 - Katharine Hepburn

Hepburn was a woman of great personal style and taste, and also a woman of strength. She will be eternally remembered for being the first woman in Hollywood to wear pants. In the early 1930s this was not only a fashion no-no, but also considered immoral. Katharine set the standard by refusing to care about what society thought of her lifestyle.

It was rumored that MGM was so determined to put Katharine in dresses that they had someone steal her pants out of her dressing room while she was on the set. Instead of panicking, she simply walked around in her underwear until her pants were returned.

Fashion Icon #2 - Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis

She was the demure and cultured First Lady of the White House, wearing Oleg Cassini A-line dresses and daring to wear off-the-shoulder gowns.

She moved on to become the jet-setting bejeweled wife of Aristotle Onassis, wearing gypsy skirts and sandals. Nothing defined her more than the wide frame “Jackie O” sunglasses to keep out the sun—and the menacing paparazzi.

In her later years, she redefined herself again as a Doubleday editor in New York City. She wore the crisp designs of Valentino and the soft, casual style of Carolina Herrera to celebrate her independence.

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