Jackie Onassis

Jackie at work Leave Behind Back Cover

Simply seeing Jackie Onassis at work was “a powerful image for the women’s movement and a sign of change.” In the summer of 1975, at the age of 46, Mrs. Onassis embarked on a 19 year editorial career and quickly earned the respect of her working women friends, in particular, Diana Vreeland and Rosamond Bernier. Ms. Vreeland would call Jackie every morning from home to discuss the latest extravaganza she was staging at the Costume Institute; they were inseparable in 1976 when Mrs. Onassis was editing a tie-book for The Glory of Russian Costume exhibit. When Mrs. Onassis left Viking, she encouraged Ms. Vreeland to collaborate with her at Doubleday on Allure, a celebration of photographs of beautiful women, and on the floor of Ms. Vreeland’s apartment they designed the pages. At Doubleday, Mrs. Onassis was promoted to senior editor and was very productive producing 10 to 12 books a year. Mrs. Onassis was a close and longtime friend of Rosamond Bernier and her husband, New York Times art critic John Russell, and they enjoyed many private dinner parties at home and collaborative business lunches at Les Pleiades, the long-gone art-world restaurant on East 76th Street. Mrs. Onassis died on May 19, 1994 at the age of 65.