FX’s ‘Love Story’ Shows Why Carolyn Bessette Kennedy Is (Forever) a Style Icon

By Karen Dybis | March 05, 2026

Since it premiered Feb. 12 on FX, the miniseries Love Story, portraying the romance and deaths of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, has sparked conversation and controversy about its content, clothing, and jewelry.

Pinning down Bessette Kennedy’s sleek 1990s style has been as difficult as getting a member of the Kennedy family on record praising the show. (Dear reader, they generally weren’t consulted and definitely don’t like it.) But the show has turned the former Calvin Klein publicist into a style icon for a new generation.

Bessette Kennedy’s sparse jewelry collection can make replicating her look more difficult for today’s jewelers and jewelry wearers. Here’s what we do know: She loved pearls and her Cartier Tank watch (or watches, if you follow one popular jewelry Substack).

“She wasn’t much of a jewelry person,” Sunita Kumar Nair, author of CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion, tells JCK. “She didn’t really like wearing earrings or rings particularly. She felt that her engagement ring was even a little too showy, according to her. She was pretty minimal, and it matched the way that she dressed.”

Sapphire Eternity Ring Blue Nile — *With alternating diamond and sapphires, this Blue Nile platinum eternity ring ($8,078) is similar to Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s engagement ring.*

As a fashion consultant on Love Story, Nair helped its costume team re-create Bessette Kennedy’s timeless “cool girl” vibe. While CBK had her favorite designers—Prada, Hermès, and, obviously, Calvin Klein—Nair describes her style as pared back. She kept her look polished, but it was curated and selective, to say the least, according to Nair. So: a pearl strand, a simple earring. Nothing more or less.

“She leaned heavily on the silhouette and the designer’s blueprint,” Nair says. “She allowed that to speak, as opposed to over-accessorizing or embellishing anything.… She stood for a time that was incredibly important fashion-wise. What’s really interesting about Carolyn is that even though most of the designers [she wore] were of Parisian background, she actually wore [their work] in her own American way.”

Why has Bessette Kennedy’s allure—and all her style copycats—continued unabated since her untimely death in 1999? Nair believes it has to do with how she carried herself, even after being swept up in the intrigue that surrounded the Kennedy family for generations.

Blue Nile hoop earrings — *Bessette Kennedy usually wore simple gold hoops, like these Blue Nile textured graduated earrings ($330) in 14k yellow gold.*

“She fascinates us because she kind of kept to herself and she was very private. I think she’s this blank canvas of style that people feel some kind of alignment to,” says Nair. “I think also marrying into the Kennedy family is a platform in itself of mystery and interest.”

Nair wrote CBK (published in 2023) to document her style—there wasn’t another book about it at the time, she says. The author wants people connected to fashion, from designers to influencers to students in the field, to see Bessette Kennedy as someone inspiring and always interesting.

Sarah Pidgeon, the actress who portrays Carolyn in Love Story, told The Hollywood Reporter she’d like the Kennedy family to “feel that we led with respect and honor for John and Carolyn.” New episodes of the series, which was created by Ryan Murphy and based on Elizabeth Beller’s biography of Bessette Kennedy, air every Thursday through March 26.

“I think costume-wise, Rudy [Mance] and his team did brilliantly,” Nair says. “There was extensive attention to detail, which really did justice to Carolyn’s overall look.”

Top: Sunita Kumar Nair says she wrote the book CBK to share Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s style with current and future generations. (Photo courtesy of Sunita Kumar Nair; jewelry photos courtesy of Blue Nile)