Grainy paparazzi shots on social media show her hailing a cab in a black slip dress. Walking the streets of New York in an oversize coat. Wearing that signature red lipstick.
when they ask me about a perfect introduction in a series so i show them this #lovestory pic.twitter.com/5FRrvqqhg0
— val ୨ৎ (@opaliteintro) February 14, 2026
Nearly three decades after her death at age 33, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy is back in the spotlight as one of fashion’s most powerful style influencers. The new TV series “Love Story” chronicles her relationship with John F. Kennedy Jr., and many fans are watching for the clothes.
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In an era dominated by conspicuous branding and obvious cosmetic enhancements, Bessette Kennedy’s enduring appeal lies in what she did not do.
She had no platform, no brand partnerships, no social media presence.
so there’s this new mother #lovestory pic.twitter.com/Yt2i5jE2ww
— ً (@drivenbyfilms) February 13, 2026
“She looks so different from the people we see now on Instagram,” said Ashley Traher, a 45-year-old attorney in Phoenix who grew up admiring Bessette Kennedy from afar. “I think we’ll be able to date today’s influencers immediately because of their makeup, clothes, even plastic surgery. But Carolyn had an effortlessness that always looks modern and cool.”
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Traher, who first encountered Bessette Kennedy as a teenager flipping through People magazine in rural Lamar, Colorado, dreamed of copying her understated elegance.
“Middle-aged me is still trying to emulate her,” she said.
A quiet influencer
Bessette Kennedy rarely gave interviews, communicating with the outside world mostly through her clothes, says Sunita Kumar Nair, who wrote “CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion,” and consulted on the show.
“I really got a sense that she was extremely private, and it shows because there’s barely any footage of her speaking,” Nair said.
Yet Bessette Kennedy’s influence has proven durable. On TikTok and Instagram, accounts such as @allforcarolyn and @carolynbessettepage are devoted to chronicling her wardrobe. Three of her coats and a little black dress are being auctioned off this month at The Fashion Auctioneer.
Bessette Kennedy, a former Calvin Klein publicist, married Kennedy in 1996. Although her mother-in-law, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, was also famous for her style, “she didn’t copy Jackie. She had her own voice,” Nair said.
“And it wasn’t something that she just deliberately did when she married John. And this is what I loved about Carolyn. She’d actually dressed like this almost throughout her life,” she said. The couple died in a plane crash in 1999.
