She was beautiful. Eyes of an almost alien blue, diaphanous skin. Something magnetic pushed the girls to dress like her, to wear the messy bun (all at Calvin Klein where he worked) to demand that hair color from the hair stylist. For Michael Kors, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy was “the image of the perfect American girl.” For Anna Wintour, “she had the same revolutionary effect in fashion as Lady Diana.” For Edward Enniful, by British Vogue, possessed the it factor, “that thing you have or don’t have.” And it makes a difference. This can explain the obsession, the eternal return to the catwalks, the myth, the books. CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion, by Sunita Kumar Nair, released last year, fuels amazement with its timeless elegance. But John Kennedy Jr &Carolyn Bessette. Two immortal icons by Ursula Beretta and Maria Vittoria Melchioni (Minerva) gets to the heart of the legend in a double biography, which, if desired, also contains the gossip part: his exes and her exes, the parties, the escapes from the paparazzi, the fights epic in Central Park, dinners with friends in New York at the height of 90s glamour.
So charming that she conquered and married John jr, son of JFK, the only Prince Charming of the States (for Americans the Kennedys are the closest thing to a blue blood dynasty) today Carolyn would be an influencer, and she has been one for all effects. “Ghost influencer” Vanessa Friedman defined her on New York Times. Millions of girls imitated the “throwaway chic” style, a form of casual minimalism, before the Piper piloted by her husband sank into the Atlantic while flying to Martha’s Vineyard on July 16, 1999, 25 years ago. The biographies have mercilessly dismantled the fairy-tale scenario: the couple didn’t work, they would have divorced. But the myth of her endures, especially that of her. Her style. The turtleneck sweaters, the pencil skirts, the jeans, the white shirts. Yohji Yamamoto’s vintage piece and sophisticated shirt. The bun held back by the hat stolen from him or, in the chicest version, by a tortoiseshell headband and scarf. Men’s coats and sneakers. Street style before it became fashionable. The Gap t-shirt and expensive jacket. «She had a casual and relaxed approach, as elegant today as it was then», says Tory Burch. So Carolyn’s spirit hovers everywhere, and we’ll see who this month will buy the black silk trench dress by Yohji Yamamoto donated to the Bonhams auction house by Sasha Chermayeff, a longtime friend of the Kennedys. She starts from 1800 dollars.
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Wes Gordon, creative director of Carolina Herrera, who has never met her, has made her a source of inspiration (“I looked at all the possible and imaginable photos”) and for this summer he proposes a pencil skirt and white shirt. Claire Waight Kelller, thanks to the 90s revival, tried to transform Meghan Markle into a similar Carolyn.
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The American Sporty & Rich fished among the images of America’s royal couple for last autumn’s campaign: he with a backwards baseball cap, sweatshirt and joggers and the inevitable racing bike carried by hand, she in jeans and coat, glasses minimal and headband, newspaper under arm. Or in a blazer and knotted scarf like the legendary mother-in-law Jackie. The pearl-colored slip dress in silk crêpe with a bias cut, the first criticized and then widely copied wedding dress that made Narciso Rodriguez’s fortune, is always cool. The London brand Refine offers it midi, in black, white and chocolate. It is called, not surprisingly, The Carolyn. Prada reintroduced the silk satin headband, but it was Carolyn herself who brought it out of the realm of bon ton childhood by combining it with oval sunglasses and a white T-shirt. For the many versions proposed by Simone Rocha, Alexandre de Paris and Lele Sadoughi, she should be granted copyright. Former assistant Rosemarie Terenzio confesses: I ask myself every day: “What would Carolyn do now?”.
#Kennedys #muse
