The last vintage history post was about the ‘King of Fashion’, Paul Poiret. For this weeks’s post, Im going to jump ahead a few years, to a name famous for his work in the 1960′s. He was Oleg Cassini and he is most well known for being the personal courtier to Jacqueline Kennedy during her time as the first lady.
Born in Paris in 1913, his first few years were spent in Russia. His father was a Russian diplomat and his mother an Italian countess. The family lost their status and fortune due to the Russian revolution in 1917 and moved to Florence. Oleg’s mother, Countess Cassini, ( Yes, Countess Cassini) worked in fashion mainly designing hats and he often traveled with her to Paris, to study the new french fashions. It was during these trips to Paris that Oleg apprenticed to designer Jean Patou, a well known French fashion designer of the times.
Oleg studied fine art and design in Florence and opened his own design studio in 1933. After winning several Italian fashion awards, he moved to the U.S. in 1936 where he got a job working with Paramount Pictures and apprenticed with Edith Head. In 1938, Oleg became the 4th husband to Merry Fahrney., who was known to gossip columnists as ‘Madcap Merry’. She was heiress to a patent medicine company and was worth millions. Ultimately, the marriage was a disaster and ended barely 2 years later in a messy divorce in which she claimed he was an adulterer that had beat her on their honeymoon. She would later go on to have 5 more marriages. (Totally earning the nickname Madcap Merry, I think)
Through his work at Paramount, Oleg met and married the beautiful actress Gene Tierney who would only wear his clothing in her films. They had a volatile marriage, which resulted in both of them having a multitude of affairs before finally divorcing in 1953. (they had filed for a divorce in 1944 but later reconciled) After his second divorce, Oleg gained a reputation as a bit of a ladies man and has been linked to Betty Grable, Ursula Andress, Lana Turner, Marilyn Monroe and was actually engaged to Grace Kelly who left him to marry Prince Rainier.
Oleg hit the big time when he was asked by his friend Jacqueline Kennedy to become the designer for her state wardrobe. His trademark look, a fine geometric clarity of lines, boxy jackets with large buttons and pillbox hats became a trend copied world wide. During his career with the white house he is said to have designed over 300 outfits for the first lady. It was during this time, he began to franchise his name, putting it on everything from luggage to nail polish and it was this move that saw his fortune grow to an estimated 400 million.
Later years saw Oleg’s popularity wane, although he regained it again with his bridal collection designs for David’s Bridal, a bridal shop set up in Ny in the 1950′s.
Oleg Cassini passed away from a stroke in 2006. He is survived by his 2 daughters and his supposed wife Marianne Nestor. I say supposed because apparently no one knew of his marriage to her despite her claiming they were married for 34 years. If you are interested in more on this part of the story I found a good article that was featured in Vanity Fair September 2010. (well worth a read, quite intriguing).