FASHION : They Made Magic Together : Oleg Cassini’s New Book Looks at His Years With Jackie Kennedy--and Launches a Tribute Collection

In one exquisite moment, Jackie Kennedy became the epitome of glamour and elegance--the uncrowned queen of America.

--Oleg Cassini

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Oleg Cassini stands in awe of the woman who inspired his new book, “A Thousand Days of Magic: Dressing Jacqueline Kennedy for the White House.”

“I wanted to create a book that was a true recognition of what she had accomplished in creating Camelot,” he said recently by phone from New York. Cassini designed more than 300 silhouettes for Jacqueline Kennedy during the 1,000 days of the Kennedy Administration.

“She single-handedly created Camelot . . . an American Versailles,” he said. “She wanted the best of everything--from the furniture, to the food, to the notable artists from other countries that she entertained. It was an international paradise.”

The Paris-born designer will visit the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda today, not only to discuss “A Thousand Days of Magic” (Rizzoli International) but also to present the world premiere of his Kennedy Collection. The line featuring evening wear, dresses and suits--all designed with Jackie in mind--is available at Bullock’s South Coast Plaza.

Other lecturers scheduled for the library’s “Dressing the First Lady: Dialogue with the Designers” series are Joan Rains (Oct. 26), daughter of the late designer Adele Simpson, whose fashion house created clothing for Pat Nixon, Lady Bird Johnson and Barbara Bush, and David Hayes (Nov. 8), a favorite designer of Nancy Reagan’s.

With the fashion galaxy’s return to a Jackie-brand of classicism--Calvin Klein’s A-line dress, Versace’s “Jackie-pink” boxy suit, Ralph Lauren’s elegant one-shoulder gown--it was a natural for Cassini to join the bandwagon.

“If other designers are busy creating the Jackie Kennedy look, who could do it better than the one who created it?” asked Cassini, 82, who also designs glitz-edged evening wear for women under the label Black Tie.

Still, he is a bit uneasy with the business side of his venture.

“I’m not coming there expecting to do a lot of commerce,” he said. “I have tried in my own limited way to fight all of those books about Jackie that are a disgrace . . . that distort truth.

“I have despised so much these commercial books. My book has nothing to do with that.”