QUB Girlie Wears Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy: Performing the Cool Girl

By Ana Lazarut  

Sat on my bed I press play on the first episode of Love Story. Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, appears on screen emulating Carolyn through every move – zhuzh, opulence, and carefree grandeur. Binging three episodes, I gain a Princess Diana-esque attachment to Carolyn.

More than anything, however, I want to be her.

My first plan of action is to find a man resembling a Kennedy to argue with in the streets and parks of New York, but this proves futile in Belfast as there is no man-resembling-a-Kennedy-for-argument-hire app I can use. My next idea is to apply for a job at Calvin Klein. This is impossible as I am a second-year university student. The next option is to ditch my style for Carolyn’s minimalistic chicness. Vogue says this is “a tougher task than one might imagine”. I choose to ignore this claim, believing (or fooling myself) that this is what Carolyn would do. 

I make out a list to be most productive:

1. Find a pair of oval sunglasses. Cancer Research UK on Botanic is calling my name…
2. Wear neutral-coloured clothes. Easy. Done. I own a white t-shirt and a navy Levi jean.
3. Adorn only natural make-up. Yes! Yes! Yes! I already feel myself emulating Carolyn’s aura. 
4. Never wear a single piece of jewelry ever again. Maybe Carolyn can make an exception for my nose ring and earrings?
5. Buy several trench coats. I thought this was supposed to be a minimalistic and cool-girl budget capsule wardrobe situation… 
6. Dye my hair blonde and stop slicking it back. Not a chance. 

Giving up, I scribble over my list and decide to stop procrastinating on my assignments. Maybe if I study hard enough, I can get a job at Calvin Klein? 

On my walk to the McClay Library, wearing my ill-fitting beige trench coat like a costume, I feel defeated by my fashion shortcomings, and I am unprepared to be further shot down by my academic shortcomings. 

Is this how Bessette-Kennedy felt when the New York Daily News made an eight-page spread of her argument with John F. Kennedy Jr.? Public shame and scrutinization by the press were constants in Carolyn’s life once she began her relationship with John F. Kennedy Jr., and in a really backwards and inappropriate way, I relate to her.

I try find a free space and notice the number of women adorning a similar trench coat, with their hair styled open and natural. We are all sporting unbranded leather tote-bags, straight-legged jeans, and loafers. And we are all playing the part of an effortless cool girl rather than being one. 

Finally, I realize what made her so magnetic and cool; Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s non-conformity and sincerity, visible in both appearance and behavior. 

Bessette-Kennedy’s style has become representative of an unattainable American dynastic culture but was founded on a desire for privacy and agency. My parasocial obsession with Carolyn discredits who she truly was – herself. I cannot be her because I am not her, I cannot look like her because I look like me, and most of all, I cannot dress like her because she was filthy rich.

Sources:

[1] Jackson, H., (2026). “Elements of Style: Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy”. Vogue, 27 Feb 2026. Available at: https://www.vogue.com/article/elements-of-style-carolyn-bessette-kennedy

[2] Klein, E., (2004). The Kennedy Curse