Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy a style icon?

[narniabusiness]

Recently I’ve seen a lot of references to Carolyn B-K as a style icon and I’m not sure that I fully understand the love. For those who are unfamiliar with her she worked for Calvin Klein, married a Kennedy and died tragically young.
Since the Kennedys seem to be the American equivalent of our Royal family, is it that the gives her a touch of glamour? Especially when combined with her tragic death, like Princess Diana?
Or is it that she really did look more stylish than her contemporaries? Does her frequent referencing in style guides mean that minimalism is having a moment?
Anyone else noticed these frequent references to her style and do you like it or think its unremarkable?

I agree with pp about Kate Moss's style in the 90s being similar. some of my favourite looks of both from the 90s. All very simple and which made them stand out but most would look nondescript in these outfits.

It won't allow me to add photos 😞

Kate Middleton doesn't inspire me either, which is exactly why I made the comparison.

I thought CB-K dressed very well, always looked great and I agree that she epitomised a certain 1990s Manhattan style. But whereas Kate Moss could take an outfit and make it her own, and also make me want to copy her, CB-K never had that effect on me

But I've no interest in pissing on anyone's chips, especially when she met such a tragic death so I'll get off the thread now.

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I had no idea the Kennedy money was dirty - trade union nobbling or something.

Joe Kennedy, the grandad, was primed as the first respectable one. He used the cash to became US ambassador to the UK. Their social ambitions went stratospheric after that - his daughter married the next Duke of Devonshire (who died and she then died in another Kennedy air crash with her married lover.)

And another daughter was lobotomised and confined to an insititution. The Kennedys seem to have an unerring knack of destroying themselves and many who cross their path. There are many reports that her marriage to JFK jnr was not an idyll, but it is very sad indeed they and her sister died so tragically.

On topic, CBK was undoubtedly goodlooking, her wedding dress was great but I think Kate Moss had greater style.

Kate Moss is the ultimate imo, I can't think of anyone as influential as her now but maybe it's because i'm old!

Ive seen her name raised much more in the last year than in the last twenty. I assume that she was far better known in the US back in the 90s than in the UK where I am. Perhaps because social media is more international than the old print media I’m seeing her mentioned more. There are whole videos dedicated to her on You tube, despite there not being a great deal of photos of her compared to current celebrities.
I’m interested in working out what it is in the zeitgeist that means her look resonates now. Perhaps it’s a bit of a progression from the old money look, which was a more elegant look than lock down leisure wear, but now taking that in a minimalist direction.

It's the 90s revival

She wasn't an icon the way Diana was but she's very much an American style icon.

Minimalism in American style is a quietly rich way of dressing. People who want to signal that they're well off, educated, and cultured dress the way she didn

Im afraid I'm not really seeing it. She is clearly thin and pretty but the clothes don't seem very interesting to me.
Somebody who shone more in person then in photos I imagine.

Not sure Diana was deserving of the ‘style icon’ title. She wore pretty dreadful stuff most of the time. She was just starting to look stylish in her little cocktail dresses and had finally ditched the awful hair at the end of her life. It would’ve been interesting to see her in middle age and beyond.

CBK was a style icon of the 90s. She epitomized that rich girl aspirational style. She worked for Calvin Klein and possessed that chic NYC minimalist aesthetic he did so well and stripped back the froufrou 80s excess. Kelly Klein had it too, they had great hair, fit, athletic bodies, minimalist body flattering clothes, and they could go from the Kennedy compound or the Hamptons to NYC without missing a beat. I think she wore some Yohji Yamamoto too.

Calvin Klein seemed a bit of Halston's heir, and he walked so designers like Jil Sander and Helmut Lang could run.

She actually reminds me a lot of Hailey Bieber today. A trend setter in a lot of ways, and if you look at old photos of her, a lot of what she wore hasn’t dated. Maybe @DorisTheFinkasaurus can offer more insight (I can’t believe that you knew her!), but I did hear that she didn’t play the media game too well, because she had no interest in using them for exposure and no patience for them. I think that showed in her fashion also, she could have dressed differently, she had the figure to wear anything she wanted, but she only dressed for herself. Seemed like she was very strong willed and very much her own person.

Isn't it funny, I rhink the black bag and shoes look totally wrong with that dress.

(I am not a style icon)

I very much remember her as a style icon of the 90s, in the UK too, but probably more mentioned in fashion magazines here, as not so much of a celebrity / political ‘royalty’ as she was in the US. I put her style as an aristocratic east coast version of Jennifer Aniston’s California style. She had the added mystique of the Kennedy connection though.

I was surprised recently to read that their marriage ended up a disaster.

I was living in Manhattan when they died, I remember hearing on the radio that their plane was misslng. So sad.

I didn't like her cocktail dresses either - they seemed to be badly cut across her bust and flattened it, and the pale lipstick with the constant tan, the 'Euro-trash look', I think it was called. I do remember a Gina Fratini dress with a wide lace collar that suited her a lot.

Hype around the new Ryan Murphy series?

Seemed like she was very strong willed and very much her own person

Once she'd bagged John Kennedy she seemed to lose her way. She had no career. Didn't seem to do anything other than try to avoid the paparazzi.

I read this heavily heavily fictionalised account of their relationship and found it an interesting concept.

www.emilygiffin.com/meant-to-be

Yes that must be part of it. I’ve also just read something on Instagram by statsbutmakeitfashion I think. They mentioned the number of new head designers at the major fashion houses this year and that everyone is waiting to see what direction they will take. In the meantime we are in this holding position where minimalism seems the right thing. I thought it made sense.