Art of travel: 'Kennedy' at Corcoran

'Encompasses both her style and her substance'

For a 1963 showing of the "Mona Lisa" at Washingon's National Gallery, Jacqueline Kennedy -- seen here with Andre Malraux -- wore an Empire gown chosen to project her appreciation of both history and fashion.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Seen previously in New York and Boston, Massachusetts, "Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years" now moves to Washington's Corcoran Gallery of Art, opening there Saturday.

This touring exhibit, mounted by the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, is scheduled to resurface about a year after it closes its stint in Washington, with a run at Chicago's Field Museum, November 2004 through May 2005.

The show features some 80 original gowns, dresses, suits, accessories and documents and marks the 40th anniversary of the start of Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy's time as first lady.

"Her sense of style and taste, which permeated everything she undertook, found obvious expression in her sense of fashion," says Frank Rigg, curator of the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum. "Within a very, short time of becoming first lady, she has become a model for women of all ages all over the world."

Among the information offered along with Kennedy's personal effects: All of her gowns were purchased with private funds. Among them, there's a pink Oleg Cassini gown and a cream Hubert de Givenchy one that Kennedy wore during her first official visit to France in 1961.

New for the Washington booking

EXTRA INFORMATION Gallery: The timeless fashions of 'Jackie O'    RESOURCES Mixing photography and design, "Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years" places the first lady's fashion and cultural sense into the context of her political role. Click here for an interactive gallery of items in the show,  which is scheduled to run through September 30 at Washington's Corcoran Gallery of Art.

As the show moves into the Corcoran, it's being augmented with documentation not seen in the New York and Boston incarnations: Photo murals and handwritten letters have been gathered to illuminate Kennedy's efforts at historic conservation in Washington at the time of her husband's presidency.

In the White House, for example, she appointed the executive mansion's first curator, formed the Fine Arts Committee for the White House and the Special Committee for White House Paintings. She insisted that scholarship should guide acquisition decisions, so any furnishings brought into the White House would be historically and aesthetically authentic to its position in national life.

Kennedy's emphasis on cultural life -- and on promoting it in the capital -- is seen in such subtle touches as a photo of her in a white gown at the White House, flanked by members of the Joffrey Ballet, the dancers dressed in their costumes for the company's "Billy the Kid" choreography.

"It's the story of a 31-year-old woman with two small children," says Rigg, "who became a leader in promoting appreciation of America's heritage, who helped to transform and elevate America's vision of itself as a people, who called attention to what should be esteemed and honored in the life of the nation and who ultimately came to symbolize and epitomize that herself."

As notes on the exhibition make clear, many of Kennedy's choices of outfit and event were carefully calculated to project "the Kennedy image of vital intelligence, high culture and youthful sophistication."

As the exhibit's name clarifies, "The White House Years" focuses on 1961 to 1963. The gown Jacqueline Lee Bouvier wore for her marriage to John F. Kennedy is expected to be displayed next year, the 50th anniversary of the wedding.

An example cited in the show's material is the gown Kennedy chose to wear to a showing of Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" at another of Washington's leading museums, the National Gallery: She wore an Empire gown, the notes point out, to reinforce her image as a romantic historicist.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' wedding gown and the dress she wore to President Kennedy's funeral aren't included in this exhibit because the focus is on her time in the White House. For the 50th anniversary of her wedding to John F. Kennedy next year, her wedding gown -- designed by African-American designer Ann Lowe -- is scheduled to be displayed.

Meanwhile, "this exhibition appropriately encompasses both her style and her substance," Rigg says, "the costumes she wore as first lady ... the important things she was doing as she wore them.

"She once declared that she hoped people realized that there was indeed something underneath the signature pillbox hat."

If you'll be traveling in the Washington area, "Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years" is slated to be at the Corcoran through September 30. Information on tickets to the show is at the "related site" listed below.