Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis will forever be remembered for bringing a sense of style to the White House, but her younger sister, Lee Radziwill, may have done her one better. The impeccably dressed former princess has become street style blogger fodder at the well-preserved age of 78. Known for her patrician looks and upper-crust taste, Radziwill has swanned through society’s upper echelons for the better part of the last half-century. Lately she’s become a regular sighting at the shows in New York and Paris, where she’s been snapped rocking Giambattista Valli tiger print and big, big sunglasses better than women decades her junior.
Radziwill’s sometimes rivalrous relationship with her sister, her sumptuous houses, and her tabloid-ready romances have long fascinated. But it’s her enviable wardrobe and not-a-hair-out-of-place coiffeur that have served as inspiration to designers from Yves Saint Laurent to Marc Jacobs. Michael Kors once dedicated an entire collection to “the Lee Radziwill look.” With Balmacaan coats and stovepipe velvet slacks, Kors conjured “what Lee would wear to walk her dogs in the sixties.” Add furs, cashmere, and kitten heels, mix with simple jewelry and minimal makeup, and you’ve got the Radziwill recipe for era-spanning chic.