A Timeless Love Story

Tuscan trend overload

Tres chic

I started watching Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette last night and went down a rabbit hole. Why is Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s clothing style so timeless and what does that have to do with interior design? Think about it this way, why did Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's style age so much better than the Tuscan trend?

If Carolyn were a home, we would say she has “good bones”. So yes, those model looks don’t hurt. Any clothing she put on probably looked amazing - like anything you’d put in a Gil Schaffer designed house. But even if she did have more ordinary bones, her style would still be timeless because:

1) It’s appropriate for the location. Chic, tailored, minimal, neutral. It’s quintessential big city - NYC. If she were living in Palm Beach or LA her style would have been totally different. Her style was appropriate for the location. Remember the Tuscan trend with brown, gold, yellow and beige? Then things shifted to the cooler “Millennial gray” trend and modern farmhouse had its moment with white shiplap and black fixtures. Now we’re swinging back to warmer, cozier vibes with English cottage and Taj Mahal. These trends got started because someone nailed the style and it was authentic and appropriate to the location. However, it then got translated to a new location, copied again, lost in translation, watered down, cheapened, copied and it becomes like an AI image that gets more and more off with every iteration. Or like a game of telephone where the original message gets lost.

2) It was appropriately scaled for her proportions. The clothing pieces Carolyn selected were well-made construction and custom tailored to fit her body. This is like designing a room with appropriately scaled furniture and rugs in relation to each other and the room itself.

3) She mixed high and low. Her everyday staples included Levi’s denim and cotton Gap shirts with she paired with Manolo shoes and a leather Prada bag. Her look is captivating because it wasn’t one note. 

4) It’s edited. Just because it looks easy doesn’t mean it is. The subtle detailing in her selection of accessories, shoes, bags and jewelry were considered and refined. Her ability to put together an outfit didn’t just happen even though it looks like it. The way the clothing fit her and the way it was styled are the subtle details that make her look timeless. I’m no fashionista, but Vogue is. They lauded Carolyn as “A fashion publicist for Calvin Klein, Bessette-Kennedy had an exacting eye for fashion, filling her wardrobe with Prada, Helmut Lang, Jil Sander, and Yohji Yamamoto.”  Just like an interior designer is familiar with furniture brands - their strengths, nuances, price points and what labels are worth the splurge, Carolyn was knowledgeable about fashion brands.