Jackie shows up at work activities, at baby showers, at concoction events, in family portraits, her twisted neck beautifully framing the experience.
She is in Zoom sessions, she’s on Capitol Hill. And last week, she was present at the Republican National Convention.
Wait — the later Jackie Kennedy Onassis, image of the Democratic Party, at the RNC? And on Zoom?
The Jackie is an A-line short-sleeved polyester tweed shift dress by Washington, D. C. based women’s fashion company Tuckernuck that sells for$ 268. Named for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the dress comes in the colors of a WASPy crayon box — dark, omelette, crystal light, hot red, palm beach green and 20-some more shades— and its combination of mod-shape and tweed fabric recall the former first lady’s blend of youthful hipness and Chanel-inspired traditional glamour. Four twisted faux pouches, studded with silver buttons, remain on the sides. Tuckernuck has even produced skintight and long-sleeve types, the latter of which is slightly pricier.
” We go back to who our client is inspired by”, said September Votta, one of the company’s three co-founders, in a new interview. Jackie Kennedy is often remembered and a source of inspiration for them, they say. And when designing products, we consider the significance of names a lot. So we set out to create a product that looked great in all different body types and colours.
Since Tuckernuck introduced the clothing in the summer of 2022, the members say they have sold almost 100, 000 Jackies. The clothing has become a common sight on the roads of D.C., particularly on Capitol Hill, despite Votta and another co-founder Madeline Grayson saying that their biggest markets are in New York and Texas. ( D. C. is in Tuckernuck’s Top 10 markets. ), and, the generally Black college to which Vice President Harris belongs, have all worn the Jackie. — or a fool, in the beautiful jargon of deals-driven-ethics-be-damned customers — for$ 48.99.
” It makes you feel suddenly polished and put up”, said Lauren Reddington, a connections consultant who has blogged about the clothing on her blog, By Lauren Anne, and has the outfit in both pink and green. Reddington previously spent a number of years on the communications team for Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo. ) before making a recent move to California. ” When I worked in the Senate, I was continually on my feet, running around to different situations. And this is a great dress]for that ]. So it’s actually no wonder to me that it’s being thus embraced, by D. C. and Capitol Hill”.
She said,” First, I was skeptical about the cost, but when I looked at my workwear closet, it really just fit a difference in my job closet.”
The Jackie is gaining a lot of work from Democratic officials. It appeared to be some cynical agreement last week that the Jackie would be the RNC’s standard attire in Milwaukee. In most audiences, at least one could be seen. A heather-gray Jackie bopped to Lady Gaga’s” Bad Romance” at one of the fluttery after-hours inventory events. At the concession stands outside the exhibition hall, product Jackie was in collection for a index mi. A half-dozen dark Jackies — so many purple Jackies! — dotted the agreement ground, camouflaged against its purple carpet.
Not that every braided-neck move was the real thing. One woman walking out of the protocol one evening said,” This is from Amazon.
On Thursday night, Lilac Jackie said,” You can always tell,” about the scams from her bar stool at the Trade Hotel. It was obvious from the moment she stood up that her dress suit specifically well, skimming her knees precisely and giving form where it seemed lacking. ” You have to find these hemmed and darted”, she said as she walked away.
They successfully raised money for family and friends in 2015, but they quickly became profitable and did n’t need outside investors, which is unusual for a fashion brand where even the most modest hipster brands are frequently funded by venture capital. ( Grayson and Votta declined to provide more specific financial details about the size of their company. ) We take great care with our designs and inventory, making sure we listen to our customers and not just producing a slew of items that do n’t sell, Grayson said.
Also unusual is the brand’s D. C. origins:” It’s not a fashion-first city, obviously, but people are very busy and going to lots of events, and they want to look nice”, Grayson said. So I believe we fulfill that goal and address the issue that many of the women in Washington, D.C., represent. There are many people in the country who are not residing in New York and have access to all of this fashion. In 2017, they opened a store in Georgetown.
Tuckernuck launched its own private label in 2018, which has since become a major component of its business. The name is named for a small island off the coast of Nantucket.
” We felt like there was this void, especially in the beginning, for beautiful, high-quality dresses under$ 300″, Votta said. The founders claimed they were disappointed and that they had ordered the fake Amazon product. (” We have nothing to worry about”, Votta recalled thinking. )
Other Tuckernuck bestsellers include the Callahan, a$ 128 swingy shirt dress, and the Chloe, a$ 298 shirt dress. ” We’re always thinking of things you can wear during the day, but also at night, or to work and out to drinks”, Votta said. Grayson and Votta claimed they are not required to mark up their designs the way other brands do, because they do not sell their goods through other distributors. ” We’re always obsessed with the quality surpassing an item’s value”, Votta said. ” We are in the weeds of the details of what we’re making”, Grayson added.
Votta claimed they anticipated the Jackie to be a hit but were “blown away by the success” when it almost immediately became available. In part, the timing gave it a boost:” It looks great on Zoom”, said Reddington, who works remotely.
” We joke that it’s the return-to-work dress”, Votta said. ” You can feel really polished and put together, and you do n’t have to think about your full look”. Rather than mulling over matching pants and a top or a necklace to elevate the dress, “it’s a one-and-done deal”. Its versatility is also important, according to Grayson,” It’s really amazing to see the variety of events it’s worn to, and the body types and how it’s styled.”
But does this dress have anything ironically Republican about it that resembles a myth about its Democratic origin? A staffer for Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla. ) that GOP staffers ‘ Prime Day carts would be stocked with a copy of Republican vice-presidential nominee J. D. Vance’s”” and Amazon’s Jackie dupe.
And despite the fact that no one in the Trump family has worn the gown, Ivanka Trump and her stepmother, a former first lady, have been fans of Kennedy Onassis ‘ style.
” It does not feel political to me”, Reddington said. ” The look is classic and timeless. Working in the Capitol itself is [political ] only, in my opinion, and is political. And because the dress references a significant moment in D. C. style, she said, it emphasizes the historic nature of working in politics. Reddington continued,” It gives you the sense of all the times that came before you.”
When asked about the dress’s partisan associations, an emerald Jackie spotted in Midtown Manhattan in mid-July shrugged in dismay. ” Wait, was n’t Jackie Kennedy a Democrat”?
Kara Voght contributed to this report.