‘Love Story’ proves Carolyn Bessette Kennedy is still a fashion icon

Carolyn Bessette Kennedy is perhaps the most mysterious style muse.

The PR maven was thrust into the spotlight when she married John F. Kennedy Jr., despite her best efforts to stay undercover, and has since become a deified figure in the fashion industry.

While there exists less than one minute of Bessette Kennedy speaking on tape, she and her husband were photographed by the paparazzi endlessly before their tragic 1999 deaths — and those shots have made their way to countless women’s mood boards for sartorial inspiration.

While she was alive, CBK, as she’s come to be known, worked for Calvin Klein and was beloved for her commitment to a minimalist ’90s aesthetic that included tons of Prada, headbands, loafers and crisp, clean lines.

Ryan Murphy’s new FX show, “Love Story,” focuses on the young couple’s tempestuous romance and their tragic demise, and also serves as a true testament to their enduring status as fashion icons. But when the producer released first-look images last summer, fans — including some well-known celebrity stylists — were immediately outraged, claiming the show’s wardrobe looked “ill-fitting” and “wrong.”

According to Bessette Kennedy’s real-life hairstylist and friend, Brad Johns, actress Sarah Pidgeon’s locks were all wrong for the role, too.

“Her hair was not white and it wasn’t burnt, and she hated the idea of having ashy hair — which I was totally against, too, and I never did it,” he told Page Six Style at the time.

After the backlash, Murphy switched costume designers and brought in a team of specialists to nail Bessette Kennedy’s signature look, which experts tell us remains more relevant than ever in 2026.

“Her influence — especially with the rise of the ‘quiet luxury’ trend — has influenced so many women. I feel she invented quiet luxury. For many fashion enthusiasts, she has become a perennial reference for clean, understated dressing,” says Janet Mandell, whose namesake luxury fashion rental showroom stocks archival looks from top designers.

While Mandell tells us “names like Audrey Hepburn, Princess Diana or Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis have a longer historical influence,” Bessette Kennedy is “extremely influential” within “modern minimalist fashion circles.”

As to why Bessette Kennedy’s wardrobe still resonates more than 25 years after her death? Good taste, of course.

“She is the blueprint of ‘cool girl style,’ so we get a lot of requests of ‘in the style of,’ which translates to incredible tailoring and unique silhouettes,” Tab Vintage founder Alexis Novak tells us.

“She really did have a timeless style. Any of her looks you could wear today, and they would be just as cool. She loved Yohji Yamamoto and Calvin Klein which are chic, classic and effortless.”

Novak asserts that Bessette Kennedy is “up there” with some of the most-requested names — which she says also include Chloë Sevigny and Cher — especially when it comes to brides.

“They LOVE her wedding gown, and I see it often on mood boards,” Novak says, referring to the Narciso Rodriguez bias-cut slip dress CBK wore for her 1996 nuptials.

Mandell, meanwhile, sees the CBK closet staples endure: Levi’s bootcut jeans, Manolo Blahnik pumps, leopard-print anything, men’s suit jackets, slip dresses, motorcycle jackets and classic Chanel bags.

“Her influence has been continuous since the ’90s,” says Mandell. “Recent cultural moments have accelerated interest, Gen Z and modern trend cycles are embracing her aesthetic and her style feels timeless rather than dated.”

Fashionphile tells us that searches for Prada have increased 66% year over year since the release of the “Love Story” trailer.

With three episodes now available to watch and more to come — including one documenting the couple’s secret Cumberland Island, Georgia, wedding — we can only imagine demand will continue to soar.