America Still Splits on Its Icons of Style

Jacqueline Kennedy's tailored restraint and Marilyn Monroe's frank glamour remain the two poles by which American taste still measures itself. The former first lady's clean lines and quiet polish sit apart from the bombshell shimmer Monroe made her signature, and decades on, admirers keep drawing the same line between them. The comparison endures less because the two women's paths crossed than because their opposite instincts for elegance still define how the era is remembered.

With reporting from The Collector.