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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n A new generation is expanding its roster of style icons beyond supermodel Bella Hadid, Kim Kardashian, Hailey Bieber and teenage influencers thanks to a television series based on the tempestuous romance between Carolyn Bessette Kennedy<\/a> and John F. Kennedy Jr. in the 1990s.<\/p>\n Bessette, the fashion publicist who became an American princess by marrying into a political dynasty, then dying in a plane crash with her husband and sister Lauren in 1999, has become clickbait with the assistance of producer Ryan Murphy\u2019s TV series Love Story<\/a>, streaming on Disney+.<\/p>\n Countless social media posts appear daily, dedicated to replicating Bessette\u2019s disciplined approach to dressing, and on Tuesday in New York her single-breasted camel Prada coat from 1996, fetched $US192,000 ($272,750) at auction \u2013 $227,229 above expectations.<\/p>\n While Millennials and Generation Alpha might move on to the next trend when Paris Fashion Week finishes or Margot Robbie promotes a new movie<\/a>, for people who lived through the 90s, Bessette\u2019s style is as enduring as Audrey Hepburn, Princess Diana or Jackie Kennedy.<\/p>\n Here is the Generation X style expert\u2019s view of why #CBK should trend forever.<\/p>\n Jillian Davison, former Harper\u2019s Bazaar Australia editor and stylist<\/p>\n In 2000, a year after Bessette died, Davison arrived in New York from Australia to further her styling career. Behind the scenes of photo shoots, photographers and make-up artists were still talking about the style of Bessette and the designers she is most closely associated with: Calvin Klein and Narciso Rodriguez, who created her wedding dress.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the time of Calvin, so all that minimalism was what we were looking at,\u201d Davison says. \u201cCarolyn Bessette was obviously a woman with good taste, but she was really Calvin-ised.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cSo much about her style is that training, the clean, long lines, the minimalism, that elegance.\u201d<\/p>\n Essential wardrobe items in quality fabrics with an emphasis on black, white and neutrals are part of Bessette\u2019s appeal, but Davison says that it takes more than a mix-and-match palette to stand out.<\/p>\n \u201cSo many brands today are mimicking those looks, whether it\u2019s Cos or luxury designers, but the personalisation and individualisation of those pieces is key.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMinimalism is only interesting when there\u2019s an irreverence. She had it. She was devastatingly beautiful and super-cool.\u201d<\/p>\n Rae Morris, make-up artist and brush creator<\/p>\n Having made her mark applying lip gloss to Naomi Campbell backstage in Turkey in 1993, Australian make-up artist Rae Morris was on her way to becoming an international arbiter of beauty when Bessette began making headlines. For Morris, Bessette\u2019s wedding dress remains a permanent stop on fashion\u2019s timeline.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like looking at Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany\u2019s,\u201d Morris says. \u201cHow can you not be inspired.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cRemember we were still coming out of the \u201980s and its shoulder pads. Here nothing was overworked. It looked like she wasn\u2019t trying to prove anything.\u201d<\/p>\n With her platinum hair scraped back, Bessette was the antithesis of the meringue bride embodied by Princess Diana in 1981, appearing at her 1996 wedding in a silk crepe sleeveless slip dress cut on the bias.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything about it was just perfection,\u201d Morris says. \u201cFrom that moment on, that hair and make-up was the most requested look. I would still use it as a reference today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo eyelashes, no fake nails… everything today is so heavy with so many steps. Not everyone\u2019s going to like simplicity, but for me, she just ticked all the boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a matter of taste, and she had it.\u201d<\/p>\n Anthea O\u2019Connor, former Melbourne editor for Vogue Australia and stylist<\/p>\n At stylist Anthea O\u2019Connor\u2019s wedding in 1997, the Bessette aesthetic carried her down the aisle.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was peak wedding,\u201d O\u2019Connor says. \u201cIt was simple, it wasn\u2019t fussy, it wasn\u2019t traditionally bridal. I was fortunate enough that Fiona Scanlan and Gary Theodore made my dress for me. I didn\u2019t set out to mimic Bessette, but the result was similar. It was pared back and austere.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Working as a fashion publicist at the time, O\u2019Connor related to Bessette\u2019s working girl wardrobe.<\/p>\n \u201cI spent so long trying to replicate that look of the skirt that was the perfect, generous length and the boots. The boots needed to fit the calf and not gape too much.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Connor is watching Love Story with her 23-year-old daughter, who is now ready to raid her mother\u2019s wardrobe.<\/p>\n \u201cI have pieces from Scanlan Theodore, where I\u2019d worked as a fit model, and some Morrissey Edmiston in storage that fit the bill. It\u2019s new to this generation, but I lived it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWith Bessette, you had more personality than a model. She wasn\u2019t trying to be anyone else. We were trying to be like her.\u201d<\/p>\n Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox<\/a> every Monday.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Carolyn](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/729d22c5cbbffadf6a4438b6a0b12811fe621e7b.jpeg\")
Carolyn Bessette Kennedy wearing the recently auctioned Prada coat in 1998 with John F. Kennedy Jr in Tribeca, New York.Lawrence Schwartzwald, Getty<\/p>\n![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/6a6b2e2b78fc5ab18d87804869e4220025a91794.jpeg\")
John F. Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy (left) and Paul Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon as the pair filming \u2018Love Story\u2019.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/5336ac18b7e552cc3c8eae62f461ecc4a7b87b09.jpeg\")
John F. Kennedy Jr., the son of President John F. Kennedy, and Carolyn Bessette on their wedding day in 1996. AP\/Denis Reggie<\/p>\n![\"Sarah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/e703cbef142478aac478fb53651677732306e3fd.jpeg\")
Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette and Paul Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr in Love Story.Kurt Iswarienko\/FX<\/p>\n