Julia Fox makes the world stop scrolling again. The actress sparked an outcry for dressing up as former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy for a Halloween event. The attire was the classic pink suit Jacqueline Kennedy wore during the assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy. The attire came complete with ‘bloodstains’ on it.
The look was a recreation of the exact clothing Jackie wore on November 22, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. To some, the recreation by Fox was an ‘act of artistic rebellion’. To others, it was ‘disrespectful’ and ‘beyond tasteless’.
However, Fox argues that it was not a costume, but a statement.
Julia Fox points out, “This isn’t fashion, it’s a statement.”
In the aftermath of the internet exploding over the bloody Chanel suit, Fox posted her manifesto on Instagram.
‘I’m dressed as Jackie Kennedy in the pink suit. Not as a costume, but as a statement,’ she said. ‘When her husband was assassinated, she refused to change out of her blood-stained clothes, saying, ‘I want them to see what they’ve done.”
Fox continued, “The image of that pink suit splattered with blood is undoubtedly one of the most haunting contrasts in modern history. Beauty and horror. Poise and devastation.”
She went on, talking about her costume’s theme of trauma and power, the power of femininity itself as a weapon: “It was performance, protest, and mourning, all at once,” she explained. “Long live Jackie O.”
Grandson of Jackie Kennedy speaks out: ‘Disgusting, Desperate, and Dangerous
Not every person fell for the artistic school angle Julia was peddling, however. Jackie Kennedy’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, struck up the X (formerly Twitter) commentary saying:
“Julia Fox glorifying political violence is disgusting, desperate, and dangerous. I’m sure her late grandmother would agree.”
The Bloody Suit That Shook the World
The pink suit worn by Jacqueline Kennedy is one of the most identifiable artifacts in American history to this day. On November 22, 1963, Jacqueline Kennedy wore the suit to Dallas, where her husband, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald.
While the public pleaded for her to change her bloody clothes, Jackie could not bring herself to do so. She stood side by side with President Lyndon B. Johnson aboard Air Force One, her husband’s bloodstains glistening on her lapel, as he was sworn in as president. “I want them to see what they’ve done,” she said. And yet, this one act of defiance, this elegance in grief, this horror in elegance, was an indelible stamp of femininity under siege.
