Jackie Kennedy’s maternity dress sold at auction for $6,500

Former US first lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis was a style icon both in the White House and out.

So it’s not surprising that 25 years after her death, people are still paying big bucks to own a piece of her wardrobe.

The former First Lady’s maternity dress sold at auction this week for $6,456.25, according to Boston-based RR Auction.

The lightweight wool dress features three-quarter-length sleeves, two pocket flaps, eight double-breasted buttons and “Lord & Taylor, Fifth Avenue” and “Ma Mere” tags sewn into the cowl neck collar.

She wore it while seven months pregnant with her second child, John F. Kennedy Jr., on November 25, 1960. Just three weeks after her husband won the 1960 presidential election, she wore the coat and posed for photographs taken by LIFE magazine photographer Edward Clark and featured in the magazine.

Included with the dress were two vintage glossy black-and-white photographs, both showing Kennedy wearing the dress and working with her personal secretary, Mary Barelli Gallagher, in a second-floor study of the Kennedy’s Georgetown estate.

There were also two letters from Gallagher confirming the authenticity of the dress and the photos.

“[The dress was acquired] from Jacqueline B. Kennedy during one of her regular, periodic, closet-cleaning sessions at her Georgetown/White House/Georgetown residences … This is to serve as proof of authenticity regarding the above item,” one reads.

"Since receiving this, it has remained in my possession at my home in Alexandria, Virginia. I was formerly secretary to Senator John F. Kennedy … and Personal Secretary to Mrs. John F. Kennedy.”

In addition to the coat, an assortment of 19 original negatives of President John F. Kennedy taken at the couple’s Palm Beach residency in December 1962 and January 1963 sold for $9,492.

News source: Pagesix