Jackie Kennedy Wedding Dress

Could Kate and Pippa Middleton Be The Next Jackie Kennedy and Lee Radziwill?

There are a lot of parallelisms that can be drawn between the Bouviers and the Middleton sisters. They all come from privileged backgrounds. Jacqueline Bouvier married John F. Kennedy, the closest thing to American royalty. Kate Middleton, well, we all know her fairy tale story. Their younger sisters Lee (despite marrying a prince) and Pippa, respectively, have the unfortunate positions of being overshadowed by their siblings’ high-profile marriages.

But the connection that stands out the most is their effect on fashion.

Jackie and Lee, both members of the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame, are in many a style icon list. They were representatives of a genteel and glamorous time, when Parisian couture was de rigueur in high society. They wore gowns and cocktail dresses from Givenchy and Chanel with regal, aristocratic flair. Their immaculate and polished style changed the way women of their time dressed. And to this day, Jackie and Lee’s style is still referenced and copied by many designers.

Kate and Pippa are young ladies whose style is attuned to modern times, deftly mixing designer frocks with high street bargains. Theirs is a style that echoes the way women of today dress, a sartorial phenomenon called high-low. Pippa was relatively unheard of until the royal wedding when she enthralled the world in her elegant body skimming white gown.

Kate and Pippa could very well afford to dress in Alexander McQueen on a daily basis, but they would rather be multi-dimensional and slip into something from Topshop or Reiss. They showed this to great effect on the morning after the wedding when they both sported clothes from Zara.

The one glaring difference between the Bouviers and the Middletons is that Jackie and Lee had that gilded, untouchable quality to them. They were women placed on that proverbial pedestal. Lee who is now in her 70s remains loyal to French couture houses. The Middletons are more relatable and their style is within reach of most women. There are hardly any editorial stories on wearing something “inspired by Kate” or “get Pippa’s look” when it comes to the Middletons because you can walk into Zara and buy the exact same dress they wore without leaving a huge dent in your pocketbook.

I imagine years from now that there would be countless books discussing and dissecting Kate and Pippa’s look as there are on Jackie and Lee’s.

Now if only Pippa marries Prince Harry, then the Middletons would really be the new Bouviers. Kate and Pippa might even eclipse Jackie and Lee’s revered stature.

jackie kennedy style wedding dress

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