Every so often, a new It Girl emerges, captivating the masses through her fashion sense, aspirational lifestyle and a general je ne sais quoi that’s too elusive to be defined.
It’s not just the clothes or their socialite status or even their access to wealth and fame. Sure, all of that plays a role, but there is something effortless, effervescent and just downright lucky about the girls who reach podium It Girl status.
This revolving door of well-dressed, mysterious women is a never-ending cycle of trending aesthetics and copy-and-paste style clichés. One girl exits the scene for some reason or another and another takes her place, often unintentionally.
It’s an occurrence so common it hardly demands acknowledgment these days; it’s just how these cycles work. What’s not as common? Posthumous style icon appointments. But in the case of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, her style has become the stuff of legend after her death in 1999.
Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s style? Yes. Her politics? Probably not.
Nearly 30 years later, Carolyn’s signature style of simple button-downs, tapered cigarette pants and classic Levi’s denim has found a new fandom online via nostalgic TikTokers who just discovered her through FX’s new anthology, Love Story.
The show details the revered relationship between Carolyn and John F. Kennedy Jr., and has exposed a whole new generation to the styling principles of Carolyn, which can best be described as corporate-chic. If this sounds basic, that’s because it is. Bessette worked as a fashion publicist and sales assistant at Calvin Klein, the unofficial king of clean-cut stylings. Fuss-free fashion was more of a way of life than a simple style doctrine, though she was indisputably well-dressed.
The right is out of style
But it’s interesting the parts people pick and pull from when deciding who to idolize. Tortoise shell headbands and black turtle necks? Add to cart. Progressive politics and voting blue? Whoa, slow your roll.
Carolyn married into the Kennedy family, a generationally Democratic unit that has leaned to the left for the better part of a century. You’d be hard-pressed to find a MAGA hat anywhere in Carolyn’s digitally revered wardrobe. But conservative and politically passive women online see blonde hair and “Old Money” fashion and latch on without a second thought.
A similar relationship developed between conservative women of the Reagan era who declared Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis their ultimate style inspiration despite the former First Lady being a Democrat.
Due to her untimely passing in 1999, we will never know the true depths of Carolyn’s political ideologies. But we know enough to make some educated guesses and to put it mildly, she’d likely scoff at your conservative politics — and your outfits.
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