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| Jacqueline Kennedy dances with Oleg Cassini, 1954. |
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Obituary
Legendary Designer Oleg Cassini Dies at 92
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March 21, 2006 –
Oleg Cassini, the swashbuckling designer whose name will forever be linked with that of Jacqueline Kennedy, his most celebrated client, will be remembered as much for his cult of personality and licensing prowess as for his clothes.
Cassini died Friday of a ruptured blood vessel at Long Island's North Shore University Hospital, said his wife, Marianne Nestor. He was 92. In a career that began during the Great Depression and continued into the twenty-first century, Cassini combined dash, durability, and an uninhibited ego to become America's first celebrity designer, as well as its longest-running.
A few months back, Cassini said people routinely asked him why he was still working so hard. "I figure if I am going to hang around, I might as well work," he said. "I guess it's because I'm a competitor. I have been all my life."
After arriving in the United States from Italy, Cassini was a costume designer in Hollywood, ran a successful wholesale business on Seventh Avenue, became the official dressmaker to perhaps the most elegant first lady in U.S. history, and spent the last several decades licensing his name to manufacturers of everything from sunglasses to fragrances to bridal gowns. He was likely the oldest fashion designer still working, and his bridal-gown business continues to boom.
Those whose lives he was a part of remembered him as an engaging man who never seemed to tire.
Stan Herman, president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, recalled first meeting Cassini in the fifties, when he sketched for the designer. "To me, he was the original red-carpet designer," Herman said. "He designed clothes for stars, but at same time tried to make the average woman feel like she was on the red carpet."
Cassini was also a remarkable athlete. Slim, graceful, and ferociously competitive, he was a ranked tennis player while growing up in Italy and an accomplished horseman. He also excelled at skiing, fencing, and boxing.
"He lived the lifestyle of a playboy, riding horses and playing tennis to the end," said Diane von Furstenberg, who presented him with a special award from the CFDA three years ago. "True elegance and gallantry."
In 1981, Cassini told W magazine that the highlights of his career were "designing for Jackie" and "inventing the concept of the designer franchise."
"They called me El Greedo every time I signed a new license," he said, "but the next wave of designers benefited from my idea. For that, they'll sing 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow' at my funeral."
This article has been edited for Style.com and reprinted with permission from Women's Wear Daily.
–Mort Sheinman
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