Page 26 - Journal of Antiques and Collectibles Januray 2020
P. 26
Oleg Cassini
DEFINING
AMERICAN VINTAGE
By Maxine Carter-Lome
“My preoccupation is to make women look beautiful.”
Oleg Cassini, Time, 2005.
A lthough identified as a great American designer, Taken from a drawing by Oleg Cassini of an outfit designed
and best known as the “man that dressed
Jackie” during her White House years, Oleg
Cassini was actually born Oleg Aleksandrovich
Loiewski in Paris in 1913 to an aristocratic Russian for Jackie Kennedy. She wore the yellow suit and pillbox hat
at a state luncheon with Charles de Gaulle in 1961.
family with maternal Italian ancestry.
Cassini was the eldest son of Countess
Marguerite Cassini, the daughter of the Russian
Ambassador to the U.S. Count Arthur Cassini who
served Tsar Nicholas II of Russia as foreign minister
to China and as the ambassador to the U.S., and her
husband Count Alexander Loiewski, a Russian
diplomat. Oleg lived a childhood of international A design by the French
privilege growing up in Florence, Italy, where his Couturier Jean Patou,
looks, pedigree, and social attributes made him a who gave Cassini his start.
Classic 1970s autographed photo of welcome addition to the most fashionable social photo: isabelrose.com
Oleg Cassini originally selling on sets wherever he traveled.
Etsy for $131.25 A true Renaissance man, Cassini spoke Russian,
French, Danish, Italian, and English; studied
medieval and modern European military history and costume; and was an accom-
plished equestrian. A natural-born athlete, he playing soccer with the teenage team the
“Boys” of Fiorentina, and played tennis for the Italian Jr. Davis Cup team, becoming
Italian Jr. Champion. Cassini also studied fine art under painter Giorgio de Chirico at
the Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze.
Both of Oleg’s parents were fashion-oriented and played a role in shaping his future
within the world of fashion and design. It is said his father was a man of style, who wore
shoes made by John Lobb, Ltd., suits by Brandoni of Milan, and claimed to own 552
ties. His mother had her own dress shop in Florence – a business she started shortly
after the family fled Russia in 1917 on the heels of the revolution, leaving the family’s
fortune behind.
Marguerite’s salon, known for its hats and carrying the latest European fashions, was
favored by both European aristocracy and wealthy Americans, many of whom she knew
from her youth traveling with her father on diplomatic business for the Russian
government. It is said that Marguerite’s formula for success was based on what today
we would consider “knockoffs.” She ventured to Paris twice a year, looked at the new
French fashions, sketched them, and brought them back to Florence, where ingenious
Italians would make them for less money.
Oleg also loved to sketch, so as he got older his mother started sending him to Paris
to sketch the French fashions and to begin to formally study the art under the French
couturier, Jean Patou. Cassini (the family had adopted Marguerite’s maiden name
when they moved to Italy) launched his career as a designer in his early 20s by opening
a small fashion house in Rome. He was getting orders from the European aristocracy
and American debutantes, whom he did his best to introduce to the ways of romance,
as he tactfully noted in his 1987 autobiography, In My Own Fashion. It only took a few
years before his sights were set on even bigger conquests!
Actress Grace Kelly with then-fiance Oleg Cassini
Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
24
DEFINING
AMERICAN VINTAGE
By Maxine Carter-Lome
“My preoccupation is to make women look beautiful.”
Oleg Cassini, Time, 2005.
A lthough identified as a great American designer, Taken from a drawing by Oleg Cassini of an outfit designed
and best known as the “man that dressed
Jackie” during her White House years, Oleg
Cassini was actually born Oleg Aleksandrovich
Loiewski in Paris in 1913 to an aristocratic Russian for Jackie Kennedy. She wore the yellow suit and pillbox hat
at a state luncheon with Charles de Gaulle in 1961.
family with maternal Italian ancestry.
Cassini was the eldest son of Countess
Marguerite Cassini, the daughter of the Russian
Ambassador to the U.S. Count Arthur Cassini who
served Tsar Nicholas II of Russia as foreign minister
to China and as the ambassador to the U.S., and her
husband Count Alexander Loiewski, a Russian
diplomat. Oleg lived a childhood of international A design by the French
privilege growing up in Florence, Italy, where his Couturier Jean Patou,
looks, pedigree, and social attributes made him a who gave Cassini his start.
Classic 1970s autographed photo of welcome addition to the most fashionable social photo: isabelrose.com
Oleg Cassini originally selling on sets wherever he traveled.
Etsy for $131.25 A true Renaissance man, Cassini spoke Russian,
French, Danish, Italian, and English; studied
medieval and modern European military history and costume; and was an accom-
plished equestrian. A natural-born athlete, he playing soccer with the teenage team the
“Boys” of Fiorentina, and played tennis for the Italian Jr. Davis Cup team, becoming
Italian Jr. Champion. Cassini also studied fine art under painter Giorgio de Chirico at
the Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze.
Both of Oleg’s parents were fashion-oriented and played a role in shaping his future
within the world of fashion and design. It is said his father was a man of style, who wore
shoes made by John Lobb, Ltd., suits by Brandoni of Milan, and claimed to own 552
ties. His mother had her own dress shop in Florence – a business she started shortly
after the family fled Russia in 1917 on the heels of the revolution, leaving the family’s
fortune behind.
Marguerite’s salon, known for its hats and carrying the latest European fashions, was
favored by both European aristocracy and wealthy Americans, many of whom she knew
from her youth traveling with her father on diplomatic business for the Russian
government. It is said that Marguerite’s formula for success was based on what today
we would consider “knockoffs.” She ventured to Paris twice a year, looked at the new
French fashions, sketched them, and brought them back to Florence, where ingenious
Italians would make them for less money.
Oleg also loved to sketch, so as he got older his mother started sending him to Paris
to sketch the French fashions and to begin to formally study the art under the French
couturier, Jean Patou. Cassini (the family had adopted Marguerite’s maiden name
when they moved to Italy) launched his career as a designer in his early 20s by opening
a small fashion house in Rome. He was getting orders from the European aristocracy
and American debutantes, whom he did his best to introduce to the ways of romance,
as he tactfully noted in his 1987 autobiography, In My Own Fashion. It only took a few
years before his sights were set on even bigger conquests!
Actress Grace Kelly with then-fiance Oleg Cassini
Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
24
