Gertrude Stein, reflecting on her childhood home in Oakland,
California, famously said, ‘There is no there there’. When considering Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis, that quote seems somewhat applicable.
Biographers have had a tough time with Jackie. She was
manipulative and false; she was genuine and kind; she demonstrated women’s
empowerment; she was a submissive cuckquean; she was little more than a hat
rack; she was a style icon.
 |
| Where is the 'there'? |
It’s this Zelig-like quality that perpetuates her persona. For millions of people, she is whatever they want(ed) her to be at any given moment. When she married John Kennedy in 1953, she knew the score. But it was worth the ride. The money, fame, and glitz. Then Dallas. And then a slow, five-year reinvention before shacking with Aristotle Onassis and big bucks.
She was vilified for selling out, for stamping on love with
lucre, but the critics
undervalued her survival instincts. She needed
that Fifth Avenue apartment to support her brand—for the brand was everything;
it had been from the beginning. No one ever accused Jacqueline Onassis of being
dumb.
She was the cultured Queen of Branding, years ahead of her
time. It’s not so much what you do; it’s how you do nothing …because for such geniuses,
for such existential sirens, there really is—and never will be—no there there.
#