Joan Rivers, Tina Santi Flaherty,
Susan Lucci and Oleg Cassini |
Oleg Cassini,
the man who dressed
Jackie Kennedy |
Susan Lucci with
Joan Rivers |
Susan’s back
with Oleg Cassini |
Norma
Dana accepts award from
Tina Santi Flaherty |
WHAT JACKIE
TAUGHT US
Flaherty’s
New Book
Celebrates Elegance
Story by Tim Boxer
Photos by Nina Boxer
 AY
is a memorable month in Camelot. Jack Kennedy was born on the
29th day and Jackie died on the 19th
day.
Is that figure 9 of
significance? If so, I could go on.
On the 27th day
last month – 2 and 7 make 9 (there you go again) – Tina Santi
Flaherty, the first woman elected a vice president of three of
America’s largest companies, celebrated the publication of her
book extolling Jackie’s human qualities and leadership abilities
as a road map for all to emulate.
Tina lived in the same 1040
Fifth Avenue building as Jackie and has been a longtime admirer of
hers.
The fabulous Four Seasons,
in the Seagram Building on Park Avenue, was packed with Beautiful
People anxious for a nostalgic taste of an era of elegance brought
to an untimely end in 1963.
Fabled couturier Oleg
Cassini praised Tina’s book, What Jackie Taught Us
(Perigee/Berkley, 237 pages, $19.95).
During Jackie’s thousand
days in the White House, Cassini designed three hundred outstanding
outfits that enhanced her style and grace.
“Jackie was a mysterious
person,” Cassini said. “She knew how to keep a secret. That’s
why this book is so important.”
Susan Lucci,
who wrote the introduction, says Jackie remains to this day a global
icon.
Joan Rivers
cracked, “Jackie looked better coming in than I did going out!”
Joan assisted Flaherty in
presenting Lessons in Living Awards, inspired by the book, to Oleg
Cassini (Image and Style), Susan Lucci (Men, Marriage and
Motherhood), and Norma Dan of the Women’s Committee of the
Central Park Conservancy (Vision).
As she was leaving, Joan
told me a secret: she and Jackie used to play the ponies at the
Roosevelt Racetrack. “Nobody knew that. She loved the horses.”
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