Jackie Kennedy’s bloodstained pink Chanel suit tells more acutely than any other image the story of what happened in Dallas on Friday, Nov. 22. But the notes she prepared for her personal assistant, Providencia Paredes, read as stage directions for a weekend of political theater and a catalog of the wardrobe that made her the most fashionable first lady of the 20th century, referenced by her successors to this day.
Source: Jackie Kennedy’s Packing List for Texas, Chic and Poignant – The New York Times
One of the lasting mysteries, although it bears no connection to the crime itself, is what became of Jackie’s pink pillbox hat.
She wore it during the motorcade and, presumably, into the ER at Parkland Hospital. It was missing when she returned to Air Force One and posed with LBJ at his swearing in.
The pink suit was deeded by Caroline Kennedy to the Smithsonian, with the condition that it not be exhibited until the 22nd century. But the hat is still missing.
My bet is that some ER nurse at Parkland snagged it, and it will appear in an estate sale by the nurse’s descendants. Query: will the deed of gift prevent them from capitalizing on the purloined pillbox hat?