I Am Worried About Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s Wardrobe on American Love Story
How do we sue Ryan Murphy for this?
“That’s cool honey…don’t worry about it, you’re fine,” is what Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy is saying in one of the only recorded videos of her speaking, where she is holding a camera on a Calvin Klein set. In another she is being asked about the “highlights” of a party as she exits and she swiftly responds that there “were no highlights,” although she states “the entire evening was spectacular.” In the shortest clip, at just three seconds long, she appears to be discussing a group of people while standing outside somewhere in New York, “...fabulous. I hope they’re sitting with me.”
Three days ago on Instagram, Ryan Murphy gave us a first look at JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in American Love Story, his upcoming anthology series about their relationship. And…let’s just say maybe he shouldn’t have.
He only shared a handful of photos and just over a minute of a screen test video. But I, and the rest of the internet, can already tell it is all wrong. The Bessette-Kennedy he has created, who is to be played by Sarah Pidgeon, didn’t say a word but I already know she would never say any of the above lines with the same CBK timbre.
Even from those roughy ten seconds of audio, you can tell Bessette-Kennedy spoke like someone who didn’t need to say anything. There was no affectation; no delay. She said what she said and nothing else because her clothing said the rest.
And the American Love Story Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy is saying all the wrong things with her clothing. She wouldn’t look an ET! interviewer in the eyes and say there were no party highlights when specifically asked about party highlights. She lacks that kind of gusto! Instead, she would drone on and on about how lovely the party was and how grateful she was to be there. She’d say something predictable and artificial.
And if you don’t believe me—just look at the clothes! The cheap-looking coat that screams fast fashion? The perfectly intact Hermès Birkin that is clearly not filled with anything? Trousers that cut a few inches above her ankle paired with patent black kitten heels…a look that feels handpicked from a ‘How to Dress for Your 9-5’ TikTok? This isn’t Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. This is someone who saw a photo of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy once and thought to achieve her style was to wear some beige and brown with no frills.
This is someone who uses ‘Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’ as a justification for a minimalist wardrobe that lacks personality. This is someone who doesn’t know the name ‘Yohji Yamamoto’, which is to say they don’t actually know who Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy was. (CBK often wore Yohji Yamamoto and she wore it well).
And that’s a problem…considering she is supposed to be her.
The reason that these small first looks and quick snippets are causing such outrage is because you have to get the wardrobe completely right with Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. There is no other choice. As I’ve already mentioned, no one really knows what she sounded like but everyone knows what she dressed like. We have mere seconds of audio but hundreds of photos of her wearing beautiful things. And that is how she communicated.
In a brief and rare interview with Glamour in 1992, Bessette-Kennedy described her look as “straightforward.” She went on to say, “I’m not comfortable with anything ornate. I like clean and understated looks. I love boots, jeans, blazers. I like very classic colors—black, navy, gray, and white. If I want to add some impact, I’ll do it with texture.” To know how Bessette-Kennedy dressed is to realize it was done with integrity and intention.
In the book, CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion, Sunita Kumar Nair notes in the introduction that, “Carolyn was the last of an era.” She goes on to explain why: “In today’s world, where we are inundated with ideas, images, and a deluge of “famous people” promoting their special brand, hiring endless help to facilitate who they are, it was such a pleasure to be in Carolyn’s world for a short time. A world that required few words, where her presence was a simple picture of a general ease and happiness in who she was and her clothes were a reflection of that sentiment.”
Later on in the book, Ann Demeulemeester was interviewed about a skirt she designed. She was challenging the typical notions of women’s dress by first imagining how a boy would wear this skirt and then how that boyish garment would work on a female body. After it appeared on the runway, Bessette-Kennedy wore that exact skirt with a camel coat. When Demeulemeester saw the pictures of her in it she said, “I knew instantly her level of understanding of the intricacies of my designs.” She didn’t just wear clothing. She understood clothing.
And therein lies the issue with The American Love Story CBK. She wouldn’t wear a skirt that rejected convention. Instead she'd opt for something obvious, which is why her clothing looks like something you’d pick off the rack at Reformation without a second thought. These aren’t wardrobe pieces you’d wear to live your life. Instead these are wardrobe pieces you’d wear to put forward the image of a life you want to appear to be living.
In CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion, Nair quotes Bessette-Kennedy talking about how important it was that her clothing was really meant to be worn and not just seen. “Those are rich girls’ coats—girls who get into cards, get out of them, go into restaurants, and get back into cards,” she said. “You need a real coat for New York weather and life.”
Let’s hope someone can relay this information to Ryan Murphy and his costume team, so that they can burn whatever Pidgeon is wearing and start again. They need to source the red spring 1996 Prada coat based on kitchen formica! OR the 1996 green-checked Valentino coat she wore to Jackie O’s memorial service! OR the Yohji Yamamoto rain coat she wore in May of 1999! Because if not…it won’t matter how much Pidgeon sounds or looks like Carolyn. No one will be listening to someone who used her clothing to do the talking if the clothing has nothing real to say.
“If I want impact I’ll do it in texture” is such an indicator of fashion intelligence
YES!! The costume designer needs a hard reset and a little bit of time digging through the archives because Carolyn would be so offended