Status
Available
Publication
Back Bay Books (2015), Edition: Reprint, 303 pages
Description
On November 22, 1963, the First Lady accompanied her husband to Dallas, Texas, dressed in a pink Chanel-style suit. Much of her wardrobe came from the New York boutique Chez Ninon, where a young seamstress, named Kate, worked behind the scenes to craft the outfits. When the pink suit Kate created becomes iconic for all the wrong reasons, her already fragile world, divided between the excess and artistry of Chez Ninon and the traditional values of her insular neighborhood, threatens to rip apart.
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User reviews
LibraryThing member CareBear36
I received an ARC of this novel from Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.
I am not really interested in fashion or clothing so this novel took me a little while to get into. However, the writing was very well-done. Kelby had a great idea and she did an exquisite job executing it. This
I am not really interested in fashion or clothing so this novel took me a little while to get into. However, the writing was very well-done. Kelby had a great idea and she did an exquisite job executing it. This
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historical novel had the perfect amount of character development so I felt like I actually connected with those I was reading about. I especially enjoyed Kate's enlightened journey through her experiences regarding "The Wife" since I was a little skeptical of how important the first lady's role of standing around and looking pretty was. I've never read a book quite like this one. Kelby did beautiful work in this piece. I would recommend this novel to those who actually like fashion, design, and clothing, but it is still a good read for those of us who aren't too interested in those things. Show Less
LibraryThing member Romonko
This book shows the absolute power there is in clothing. It is set in New York city in the early 1960’s. John F. Kennedy has just been elected President and his wife Jacqueline is First Lady. And she’s First Lady in all American hearts. The public embrace Jacquie with her elegance and her sense
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of style. Her perfect family and her very attractive husband made a lot of women envious at that time. We see all this unfolding through the eyes of a very appealing young seamstress by the name of Kate who is the main seamstress of The Wife, as she is called in this book. Kate is the most likeable heroine you’ll ever meet. She’s a young Irish immigrant who is a very talented seamstress. She takes great pride in her perfect hand sewing, and she is thrilled to be sewing for Jacquie. She loves nothing better than making a perfect copy of a glorious Chanel suit. In this fictional take on the origin of the famous pink suit, Kate is the one who sewed it for the First Lady. Apparently, it was quite common for such replica garments to be commissioned and sewed by other firms other than the haute-couture shop where they were designed. Kate realizes that the lady is elegance personified and although she has never met her, she creates a garment that will complement her style, and a garment that will be shown off to the world. Kate’s personal life is tied to the Irish neighbourhood that she lives in, and to a very attractive butcher by the name of Patrick. True events of the time are woven into the plot of the story. The real people in the book like the President and his wife, Coco Chanel herself, and various others help to make this book very realistic. The book is sumptuous in its descriptions, especially in the descriptions of the lovely clothing that binds the story together until the inevitable end. In the end the beautiful raspberry pink suit serves as a shroud for Jacqueline’s dying husband in November 1963 in Dallas. Show Less
LibraryThing member flourgirl49
This is kind of an interesting story about the famous pink suit that Jacqueline Kennedy wore on the day that her husband was assassinated in Dallas in 1963 and the seamstress in New York that made it. I'm not sure how much of the story is actually true surrounding the actual making of the suit, but
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the descriptions of the fashion industry at the time and the lives of the people who worked in the fashion houses was interesting. Show Less
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
The Pink Suit by Nicole Mary Kelby takes a close look at the iconic suit that Jacqueline Kennedy wore on that fateful day in November 1963. The story is told by Kate, a seamstress working at the House of Ninon who specialized in making designer knockoffs for American High Society. Mrs. Kennedy was
I enjoyed this glimpse into a very small corner of the Kennedy White House years and although I found Kate and her story just ok, I was fascinated by the details and found myself following up on Wikipedia and was pleased to find that this story was firmly based on the actual facts.
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well known for her style and fashion sense, but as the wife of the American president, it was preferred that she dress herself in American clothes. The solution was to work with a fashion house like the House of Ninon that was able to acquire the suit pattern from Chanel and even to broker an arrangement to acquire the exact pink wool to match the original French design.I enjoyed this glimpse into a very small corner of the Kennedy White House years and although I found Kate and her story just ok, I was fascinated by the details and found myself following up on Wikipedia and was pleased to find that this story was firmly based on the actual facts.
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LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
I love Kennedy fiction when written well, and Nicole Mary Kelby has certainly done her research into the history of that iconic 'Chanel' suit, but the intricate stitching never really created a story for me. Backroom seamstress Kate, who makes up the suit from Chanel's design at Chez Ninon in New
The first half of the book is captivating, carefully researched, based on real lives and historical fact, and evocative of another era. There are some beautiful descriptions of the suit in progress - 'It was like the memory of roses; it was the kind of pink that only the heart could understand' - and suitably romantic references to 'The Wife' and her husband - 'They always seemed to be on the verge of telling each other a secret, leaning towards each other as if in orbit, one drawn in by the other's gravity' - but Kate and the suit are let down by her depressing destiny to spend the rest of her life married to Patrick back in Ireland. Like the replica outfits that Kate creates for her sister, the glamour of Chez Ninon and the beautiful fabrics that Kate handles everyday are wasted on such small lives.
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York, is a very believable character, talented and passionate about the clothes she creates for 'The Wife' at Maison Blanc, but let down by Patrick, the blockish butcher courting her. I kept thinking, she's not really going to abandon her dream job to marry him and help out in his shop, is she? Yes, no, yes, no - by the end of the book, which predictably coincides with the final outing of the pink suit, I'd completely lost interest in Kate too. There is also a random explosion, which has little effect apart from tipping Kate back towards saying 'yes', and an outing to 'Freedomland' that is nothing more than heavy-handed metaphor.The first half of the book is captivating, carefully researched, based on real lives and historical fact, and evocative of another era. There are some beautiful descriptions of the suit in progress - 'It was like the memory of roses; it was the kind of pink that only the heart could understand' - and suitably romantic references to 'The Wife' and her husband - 'They always seemed to be on the verge of telling each other a secret, leaning towards each other as if in orbit, one drawn in by the other's gravity' - but Kate and the suit are let down by her depressing destiny to spend the rest of her life married to Patrick back in Ireland. Like the replica outfits that Kate creates for her sister, the glamour of Chez Ninon and the beautiful fabrics that Kate handles everyday are wasted on such small lives.
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LibraryThing member bookwyrmm
The prologue was intriguing, the the novel was just average historical fiction.
LibraryThing member MHanover10
This is the story about Kate and the creation of the pink dress that "the Wife" wore when the President was assassinated. It's about relationships too between Kate and Patrick, Kate and her sister, everyone at Chez Ninon and just everyone in general in the Irish part of New York in the late 50's
What made me keep thinking this was the 1920s was the fact that after watching Mad Men and how much bed hopping is in that show, and then to have Father John in this book frown on Kate and Patrick even kissing. I really enjoyed this book. It's a different perspective on this side of the Wife and is based on real people.
I won this book on Goodreads.
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and early 60s. Although I've read books about seamstresses before but set back in the 1920's and this had that feel to it, which was slightly confusing for me. I enjoyed the care and love that Kate puts into making this dress, a Chanel line for line creation. She is a true seamstress. She can feel the fabric sing just by touching it. She feels the fabric carries all the stories of everyone who has ever touched it, had a hand in creating it.What made me keep thinking this was the 1920s was the fact that after watching Mad Men and how much bed hopping is in that show, and then to have Father John in this book frown on Kate and Patrick even kissing. I really enjoyed this book. It's a different perspective on this side of the Wife and is based on real people.
I won this book on Goodreads.
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Language
Original language
English
Physical description
303 p.; 8.25 inches
ISBN
0316235679 / 9780316235679