Narciso Rodriguez on Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s Legacy as a Style Icon: ‘She Was the Love of My Life’
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Narciso Rodriguez spoke at WWD’s Apparel & Retail CEO Summit on Tuesday in New York. The fashion designer fondly recalled memories of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, his close friend and client.
“Until my children were born, she was the love of my life,” Rodriguez said of the former Calvin Klein publicist, who alongside her husband, John F. Kennedy Jr., died in a plane crash in the summer of 1999.
Speaking to WWD’s Alex Badia, Rodriguez discussed Bessette-Kennedy’s legacy as a style icon. Decades after her death, Bessette-Kennedy’s minimalist wardrobe still inspires designers and fashionphiles alike. She recently appeared on Wes Gordon’s mood board, inspiring his spring 2024 collection for Carolina Herrera.
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“Carolyn’s style was no accident,” Rodriguez said. “She considered everything. She thought about things, but she had innate style and she looked amazing.”
Even after she married into one of the world’s most prominent families, Bessette-Kennedy never sought help from a stylist.
“She was a very smart woman and she didn’t need to be told what to wear,” Rodriguez continued. “She had a great eye.”
Rodriguez and Bessette-Kennedy were coworkers at Calvin Klein, where the former was employed as an assistant designer, when they met. The two struck up a friendship before Rodriguez became design director at Cerruti in 1995. Following her engagement to John F. Kennedy Jr., she asked Rodriguez to design her wedding gown over drinks at The Odeon restaurant in TriBeCa.
Bessette-Kennedy attended two hours-long fittings in Paris before the dress was complete. Rodriguez gifted the gown, worth approximately $40,000 at the time, to his friend and client.
The bias-cut silk crepe sheath with a cowl neckline upended the popularity of princess-y, puff-sleeve brides, ushering in the craze for simplistic, slip-style wedding gowns. With the recent revival of ’90s minimalism, Rodriguez’s design has proven timeless.
“I made that wedding dress with so much love for the person that I loved most in the whole world,” Rodriguez told PBS in 2020. “I never viewed it as a press event.”
Following the Kennedy wedding, Rodriguez’s career soared. In 1997, he left his post at Cerruti and launched his own namesake label, where he’s designed looks for Claire Danes, Salma Hayek and Kate Winslet.