"that magic that you cannot explain"

I read this quote that I liked -- it is by Manolo Blahnik, a designer of shoes.  A book titled Jackie Style, written by Pamela Clarke Keogh (copyright 2001, HarperCollins, New York), lists four quotations on the back of its dust jacket.  The quotations are not about the book, but about the book's subject.


Manolo Blahnik said, "Mrs. Kennedy was that magic that you cannot explain.  She typified America -- just shining, full of optimism and intelligence, and just good work."


While the quotation is "about" Jacqueline Kennedy, it also reflects the personality of the speaker, Blahnik:  he's European -- born in Spain -- and when he says, "She typified America" he's conflating the First Lady with our country.  He is, like, a "big fan" of America.


"She typified America."


"Shining."


"Just shining."


"Just shining, full of optimism and intelligence, and just good work."


An innate "joie de vivre" comes through, in his quotation.


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----------------------------- I think what President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy represented for a lot of people, at the time, was -- just doing your best.  The idealistic concept that it was worthwhile, to do your best.  (It wasn't so much "They - Are - Great" -- more like, "that's what they are doing, now what am I doing? - I am inspired to do good, to do well, to do a good job...."


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Pres. & Mrs. Kennedy's trip to Paris in 1961








meeting French President Charles de Gaulle














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Vienna, 1961 (same trip, right after Paris)





(JFK, left in background, then Khrushchev in foreground, then Jackie Kennedy)


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Mrs. Kennedy's 1962 trip to India and Pakistan


("diplomacy lite")


























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(leaving the White House for the Inauguration Gala, 1961)





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