A Definitive Guide to What Carolyn Bessette Kennedy Wore
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We’ve obsessively tracked Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s style since the beginnings of the Strategist. It all started with her(rumored) preferred lipstick— a shade calledCranberry Veilfrom Face Stockholm — in 2017. But the fascination with all things CBK related might’ve reached a new level with the premiere of Ryan Murphy’sLove Story.A few weeks ago, Emily Sundberg reported inFeed Methat C.O. Bigelow had its biggest non-holiday sales day in history thanks to West Village girls stocking up on tortoiseshell headbands, and last weekend, a Strategist senior editor spotted a display of tortoiseshell headbands with a photo of Bessette Kennedy in the front window of Zitomer. Selima Optique — which makes theAldo sunglasses she was often photographed in— saw a 1,314 percent increase in sales of that style in the two weeks since the show debuted (compared to the previous two weeks before the show), according to a spokesperson for the brand.Strategist readershave CBK on the brain, too: They boughta lotof tubes of Cranberry Veil last month.
If you find yourself suddenly wantingtiny sunglassesor searching for vintage Yohji Yamamoto on the RealReal, let us be of service. We searched for everything Kennedy had that’s still available. This involved going down rabbit holes across different sub-Reddits, following Instagram accounts, and reading up on anything about her style. You might recognize theEgyptian musk oil from Abdul Kareem, which contributor Fiorella Valdesolo wrote about after spotting it in an XOJane post by Cat Marnell. But you may not know about the foundation powder mentioned in Bessette Kennedy’s friend Carole Radziwill’s memoirWhat Remainsor the Chuck Taylors she reportedly wore while working at Calvin Klein. While many of her pieces were designer — like the Narciso Rodriguez wedding dress that has its ownWikipedia page— she schlepped aBoat and Tote, too.
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Carolyn Bessette Kennedy was often photographed in well-fitting basics, among them long- and short-sleeve crewnecks from Petit Bateau. According to John F. Kennedy Jr.’s assistant RoseMarie Terenzio (who later became good friends with CBK), the French label’s 100 percent cotton staples in black and white were a favorite of Bessette Kennedy, who throughout the mid- to late-1990s paired them with everything from aYohji Yamamotoraincoattoto carpenter jeans and flip flops.
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T-shirts like the Petit Bateau above were often paired with bootcut jeans from Levi’s, specifically cropped 517s, as reported by “Page Six” andVogue. The style, which debuted in 1969, is fitted through the hips and flares at the knee to go overboots, though she liked to wear them withloafersandstrappy Prada sandals, too.
[Editor’s note: If you want to buy a new pair, they are available in men’s sizing fromLevi’s here.]
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Reaction to the original test images ofLove Storywasnotgreat — and especially toward the pieces worn by Sarah Pidgeon, who plays Bessette Kennedy. One of the items that fans decried were theChuck Taylorson Pidgeon’s feet — but we were wrong. As Amy Odell reported inBack Row, the series — which is based on Elizabeth Beller’s biographyOnce Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy— got this detail right, and the lack of any photographic evidence (unlike the images showing her in Stan Smiths or Airwalks) has to do with the fact that she wore thembeforemeeting J.F.K. Jr.
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Only Bessette Kennedy could make wearing sneakers in the sand look completely practical and even stylish.Photosof Carolyn and JFK Jr. show the couple leaving Hyannis Port, where she was wearing white Adidas Stan Smiths, a green sweatshirt, and a yellow rain slicker. She wore the sneakersin the city, too.
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She also wore sneakers fromAirwalk, the skateboarding shoe company that was popular in the ’90s.Her preferred pairwere the 19 Oz style in black-and-blue, which from afar look a little like a pair of Air Jordans.
[Editor’s note: We couldn’t find her exact pair, but these are from the same “19 Oz” line.]
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Manolo Blahnik’s Carolyne wascreated in 1986, originally inspired by socialite Carolyne Roehm, whom designer Bill Blass called the “ultimate tastemaker”. But the style was made famous by Bessette Kennedy (at leastaccording to the brand). Kennedy wasphotographed in the slingback— her arm around a bowtied John F. Kennedy Jr. — at an event celebrating what would’ve beenJohn F. Kennedy’s 80th birthday.
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Bessette Kennedy seemingly didn’t go anywhere — whether it was walking downMadison Avenueor at the airporton her way to Bill Clinton’s inauguration— without her Aldo sunglasses by Selima Salaun. (Salaun opened the firstSelima Optiquein Soho in 1993; Bono and Madonna were customers.) At the request of many customers, Selima Optique later made theCarolynframes, which areapproximately 0.25 inches larger.
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This headband is the most ubiquitousBessette Kennedysymbol. ThoughLove Storyspawned a fresh wave of CBK fervor at C.O. Bigelow, it wasn’t the first time the pharmacy sold out of the acetate accessory (a December 2023 TikTok trendsaw throngs descend on the pharmacy). She was nary without the headband on strollsthrough1996and1997and oftenpairedit with her Selima Optique shades. You can still find it atZitomerfor now.
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AsAlice Gregory wrote forthe Strategist in 2017, Face Stockholm’s Cranberry Veil is “especially good on an otherwise bare face” — which was Bessette Kennedy’s preferred way of wearing lipstick. She supposedly wore the shade for nights out on the town between 1997 and 1998 and appears to have worn it ata Whitney Museum partyand anotherart event. Thebrand cites Bessette Kennedy as having been a “frequent customer at our SoHo store in the ’90s … Her favorites were Nail Polish #13, a sheeropal/iridescentshade, and of course,Cranberry Veil Lipstick.”
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Kennedy also supposedly wore theEgyptian musk oil from Abdul Kareem, which is “clean and mellow and faintly soapy,” writes our contributor Fiorella Valdesolo. “It’s hard not to appreciate the dichotomy of a woman with unfettered fragrance access opting for something so down-to-earth,” Valdesolo adds. And it’s only available throughthis seller on eBaynow.
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From anexcerptof Carole Radziwill’s (who was married to J.F.K. Jr.’s cousin Anthony) memoir: Kennedy kept Mac Studio Fix Powder in her makeup bag to useunder her eyes. It’s available as a foundation-setting powder now with over 67 different shades.
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Bessette Kennedy’sbleached-blonde hairis synonymous with her style. A natural brunette, she started seeing colorist Brad Johns in 1996, who helped her achieve that “child of the beach” color she’s famous for. To keep it healthy, it’s reported that she (and John) used Kiehl’s cream to smooth, condition, and style their hair.
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L.L.Bean Boat and Tote, Open-Top
Like every good New Englander, Bessette Kennedy had the L.L.Bean Boat and Tote and actually used it —on a boat.
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Bessette Kennedy famously eschewed visible logos, though she could often be seen carrying a giant 40-centimeter Birkin bag. She was also partial to the fashion house’s classic belt with that unmistakableH.
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Prada ready-to-wear and accessories were among Bessette Kennedy’s most beloved pieces, and this purse, originallypart of a fall-winter 1995 collection that Prada re-issued in 2022, plus its variations, is no different: patent, black, and nondescript. A near-identical rounder one was spotted on hera few months prior, paired with a Chanel dress, andagain while shopping in Boston witha Gucci headscarf, while she used a larger tote in1997.
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This midiskirt was spotted on Bessette Kennedy only once as part of a head-to-toe Prada outfitin October 1996to greet the press outside her and JFK Jr.’s Tribeca home for the first time asMrs.BessetteKennedy. The piece is now part of anauctionof some of the most sought-after pieces from her closet.
Some more finds fromLove Story…
While the real CBK didn’t own these items, they’re pieces we spotted on the show.
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AsThe Cutreported, Sarah Pidgeon wears a cream-colored rollneck sweater from J.Crew, something that Carolyn herself might have worn considering the style’s popularity at the time. The brand recently rereleased its original 1988 rollneck, technically for men, and anupdated version for womenwith a wider ribbed neck and cuffs.
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Love Story’s Carolyn Bessette Kennedywears the slightly larger-framed Carolyns from Selima Optique — instead of the Aldos favored by the real Bessette Kennedy.
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Our senior editor Ailbhe Malone spied a Mackenzie-Childs teapot next to Carolyn atlunch at Caroline Kennedy’s(played by Grace Gummer) — before she’s eating a salad of dandelions Caroline’s husband, Edwin Schlossberg, found in Central Park (that Carolyn spits out into her napkin).
Arguably the best part of the show is the way it recreates the atmosphere of living in New York City in the ’90s — through music and fashion, yes, but particularly through its sets, such as its depictions of the sleek Calvin Klein offices and JFK Jr.’s (reimagined) Tribeca loft.Curbed’s Adriane Quinlantalked to the show’s production designer, Alex DiGerlando, about getting “period correct” chairs and other details. Over atSecret Strategist, we noted all the pairs of lamps that pop up in various spaces, all of which you can still buy.
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