So, the other day, I got this random thought stuck in my head about Jackie Kennedy. We all know her style was legendary, right? But I started wondering about something super specific: her dress size. Seemed like a simple enough question. Boy, was I wrong.
My Little Investigation Project
Naturally, my first step was to hit the internet. I figured, type it in, get an answer, done. But it wasn’t that straightforward at all. I started digging around, reading articles, looking at old photos, trying to piece things together. It felt like I was trying to solve a mini-mystery. I spent a good couple of hours just clicking from one page to another, and honestly, I just got more confused initially.
You see, the whole thing about dress sizes is a bit of a mess, especially when you’re looking back in time. Here’s what I bumped into:
- Sizes change over time: A size 10 from the 1960s is way different from a size 10 today. It’s like they just made numbers up as they went along. Today’s size 10 would have been much larger back then, or rather, her size 10 would be tiny now.
- Custom-made clothes: A lot of her famous outfits, especially those iconic ones, were custom-made. Think Oleg Cassini, Givenchy. These weren’t off-the-rack sizes; they were tailored perfectly to her. So, pinning down a “size” is tricky.
- US vs. European sizing: Then there’s the whole American versus French sizing thing, which is another layer of confusion.
It actually reminded me of this one time my buddy, Tom, tried to build a “simple” bookshelf from one of those flat-pack furniture places. He called me over because he was losing his mind. The instructions were in, like, six languages, none of them clearly English, and the pictures looked like they were drawn by a toddler. Half the screws were missing, and the ones he did have didn’t seem to fit. He was convinced it was a conspiracy. We spent an entire Saturday wrestling with that thing, fueled by lukewarm coffee and pure stubbornness. In the end, it kind of stood up, but you wouldn’t want to put anything heavier than a feather on it. Finding Jackie’s dress size felt a bit like that – a lot of conflicting pieces and a sense that the “instructions” were missing.
So, What Did I Actually Figure Out?
After all that sifting, I did find some common threads. Most sources suggest that during her White House years, Jackie Kennedy was likely a US size 8 or 10. Now, remember, that’s a vintage size 8 or 10. By today’s standards, that would be more like a size 2 to 6, depending on the brand. She was reportedly around 5’7″ tall.
I also read that her measurements were often cited as something around 34-24-35, give or take. But again, with so much of her wardrobe being couture, those numbers were more of a starting point for her designers than a label she looked for in a store. They built the clothes for her, not for a generic size.
It’s funny, isn’t it? We get so hung up on numbers. But her impact wasn’t about a dress size. It was about the whole package – the elegance, the poise, the way she put things together. The “Jackie Look” was more than just measurements.
So, yeah, my little quest for a simple number turned into a bit of a dive into fashion history and the quirks of sizing. No single, definitive digit, but it was interesting to see how it all worked back then. It definitely makes you appreciate the artistry of those clothes and the woman who wore them so well. It’s not really about the tag, is it?
