LONDON — The leading ladies of the late Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis are having quite the moment.
A biopic on his former lover, the American-Greek soprano Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie just premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival and now his wife and former First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ Valentino wedding outfit is going under the hammer at Bonhams.
The online sale will take place between Sept. 16 to 26 with a starting estimate of $8,000 to $12,000.
Jackie Kennedy married Aristotle Onassis on his private island.
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Even though it was Kennedy Onassis’ second nuptials – the dress had more significance and sentimental value in her life than her first wedding dress. She was allowed to make the decision of what to wear to her second wedding.
She married the shipping magnate on Oct. 20, 1968 on the private island of Skorpios in a two piece from Valentino’s spring 1968 haute couture collection – a beige lace turtleneck bodice with tiny pearl buttons and bishop sleeves over a pleated above-the-knee skirt and a simple bow in her hair.
The dress is being offered up by a private couple that befriended Onassis and Onassis Kennedy on the private yacht, Christina O, name after Onassis’ daughter.
Jackie O’s Valentino wedding dress to Aristotle Onassis.
Courtesy of Bonhams
“The couple became extremely close with Jackie after they met and when Aristotle passed, Jackie left the boat and a lot of the memories of that relationship on the boat,” said Marissa Speer, Bonhams’ head of sale for handbag and fashion in an exclusive interview.
“When that yacht was being cleaned out to get all the Kennedy pieces off of the yacht, the couple loved Jackie so much that they didn’t want these pieces just to disappear into the ether – they’ve kept items [for nearly five decades] packed, sealed and taken care of,” she added.
Kennedy Onassis’ wedding dress was also more of a fashion choice than it was a traditional one. She paved the way for the modern bride in the late ‘60s by opting for something shorter rather than a long princess gown.
“Jackie [had] really found her voice and used it by picking this beautiful Valentino piece,” said Speer.
Aristotle Onassis, with his bride, Jacqueline Kennedy, by his side, waves from his yacht Christina after their wedding on the island of Skorpios.
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On Oct. 18, 1968, WWD reported with an illustration that Kennedy Onassis had worn the beige chiffon and lace dress to the wedding of Bunny Mellon’s daughter Eliza Lloyd and Viscount Moore, where Caroline Kennedy was a flower girl and John F. Kennedy, Jr. was a page boy.
The Italian designer made a new version of the same dress for the wedding.
In Peter Bevans’ unauthorized biography “Nemesis: The True Story of Aristotle Onassis, Jackie O, and the Love Triangle That Brought Down the Kennedys,” he writes that Onassis’s sister Artemis was angry with her brother for “making love to Jackie in the afternoon before the ceremony.” In the book, Onassis’s best man, Costas Haritakis recalls “the last three buttons of her dress were not properly fastened; they were in the wrong loopholes.”
The Kennedy Onassis effect still has value to this day.
At Bonhams, Valentino’s designs from the ‘60s and early ‘70s remain as the most collectible items because of the former First Lady.