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Jackie Kennedy's fashion consultant Oleg Cassini passes away
by : Emma Price
Date : Sun, 19 Mar 2006 17:02:00 GMT
Oleg Cassini, who was behind the fashionably elegant looks sported by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, passed away on Friday at the age of 92 at a hospital in Long Island. According to his wife Marianne, the fashion designer died due to a burst blood vessel in his head. She, however, ruled out a stroke. lt;br / gt;
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Known for his playboy image, Cassini designed over 300 masterpieces for Kennedy, making her one of the greatest fashion icons of all times ever since she appointed him the White House fashion head in 1961. At the time, Kennedy was only 31. lt;br / gt;
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The biggest feather in Cassini 's cap was his first creation for her a fawn wool coat and dress and a pillbox hat that Kennedy wore to Inauguration Day making all other politicians ' wives looked like 'bears '. We are on the threshold of a new American elegance thanks to Mrs Kennedy 's beauty, naturalness, understatement, exposure and symbolism, Cassini had said upon his selection as the White House chief designer. lt;br / gt;
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One of the first fashion designers to lend his name to a number of products, ranging from perfumes to color cosmetics to sunglasses, watches, luggage and even the inside decoration of a 1970s AMC Matador automobile, Cassini earned a fortune through these franchises. He, however, remained famous as the man who turned the White House into a house of high fashion. lt;br / gt;
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Born on April 11, 1913, in Paris, France, to Countess Marguerite Cassini and her husband, Alexander Loiewski, Cassini was brought up in Italy after the family fled France during the Russian Revolution. In Italy, his mother earned a name as a fashion designer, sparking a similar interest in her eldest son. Cassini moved to the United States in 1936 and in 1938 was married to Mary Fahrney, the heiress to the Dr Peter Fahrney amp; Sons empire. The two were divorced in 1940. lt;br / gt;
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After the divorce, Cassini headed towards Hollywood, finding himself employment as a designer with Paramount Pictures, where he dressed stars like Natalie Wood, Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner and Veronica Lake. In 1941, he exchanged vows with American actress Gene Tierney, with whom he had two daughters, Antoinette and Christina. Due to Tierney 's bout with German measles, Antoinette was born deaf, blind, and mentally retarded, a development that forced Tierney into depression, causing deep voids in the couple 's marriage. They divorced in 1947 and then reconciled before divorcing again in 1952. lt;br / gt;
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In the 1940s, Cassini also enlisted in the army as the second lieutenant during the Second World War. At one time, he was engaged to actress Grace Kelly, who broke her engagement with him to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco, after which Cassini married his third and last wife Marianne. Some of his bitterness with Kelly showed when he said, I created the Grace Kelly look. She dressed like a schoolteacher. I put her in elegant, subdued dresses. lt;br / gt;
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The fashion designer chronicled his experiences with the first lady in his book lt;em gt;A Thousand Days of Magic, Dressing Jacqueline Kennedy for the White House lt;/emin 1995. All I remember about those days are nerves, and Jackie on the phone 'Hurry, hurry, Oleg, I 've got nothing to wear ', he said in the book. He wrote his autobiography lt;em gt;In My Own Fashion lt;/emin 1987. lt;br / gt;
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Later in 2001, the designs that Cassini had created for Kennedy were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a special called lt;em gt;Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years lt;/em Cassini made appearances in TV talk shows like lt;em gt;The Tonight Show lt;/emand lt;em gt;The Mike Douglas Show lt;/emand spoke about his closeness to the first lady. lt;br / gt;
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Besides his wife, he is survived by four grandchildren.
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