style icon: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy
Starting off strong in my style icon series, we have to talk about Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. Recently her style is being openly praised online, and I’m jumping on the bandwagon. After covid, we’ve seen major style shifts. Currently, sparkles are on trend and evening wear is for everywhere. The lack of time outdoors has made us realize there’s no reason for a good outfit to be sitting in the back of our closets. But even with that realization, I always come back to staple pieces, classic styles, and 90s silhouettes. One woman exemplifies this style better than any other.
Carolyn’s style is simple, timeless, and flattering. It subverts branding while maintaining luxury. She wasn’t one for mixing prints, and if she included any at all it would be the statement piece of her outfit. She stayed devout to neutrals, with an emphasis on black, and despite owning an almost exclusively brand name wardrobe, avoided logos and flashy pieces. The appearance of jewelry was a rarity, and most of her outfits only needed her natural beauty as an accessory.
This is best displayed when looking at her outfit choice for the Municipal Art Society Gala in 1998, where earrings, necklaces, and bracelets are all absent, only to be replaced with satin gloves and a red lip.
CBK mastered the alluring abilities of a simplistic style, allowing her beauty to be on full display.
She knew the power of a good jean, and could make a white button-down look oh so tantalizing with just a few strategic buttons left undone.
She was often seen with a signature headband, a style that’s come back into popularity with quiet luxury and trickled into fast fashion with the other micro-trends. Of course, the Blair Waldorf lovers and those who say “wealth whispers” are champions of this trend, but there are many ways to style this practical accessory, as displayed by CBK. You don’t always have to go with the bright eye catching colors, but rather can choose simplistic neutrals that highlight the usefulness of this particular piece. Carolyn choose a brown, tortoise shell headband and stuck with it.
As you can already tell from previously included photos, she was loyal to her accessories, and that loyalty extended beyond headbands. Her signature sunglasses were oval shaped, and solidified her as a true 90s girl.
Staying true to her preferred neutral palette, these glasses were a dark brown.
Now, to every rule there is an exception, and CBK broke out of her pattern and color free style only for a few statement pieces. An iconic example would be her floral printed dress or her long red coat, but my absolute favorite would have to be her leopard print coat. If living in Paris has taught me anything, it’s that leopard print is back in a big way. It’s stylish, chic, and can be made into a bold neutral if you pair it with simplistic pieces. Of course, Carolyn is the perfect example of that.
It’s always a pleasure to dive into a style icon’s wardrobe, and if I learned anything it’s that she would’ve love The Row.