Has it really been 25 years? On the evening of July 16, 1999, a small plane carrying 33-year-old Carolyn Bassett, her sister Lauren, and her husband, pilot John F. Kennedy Jr., disappeared off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.
The story is of international proportions. The focus at the time was mainly on Kennedy.After all, America has watched him grow up… lose his father… ride his motorcycle through the streets of New York… start a magazine called George… and begin dating Bassett, a publicist for fashion designer Calvin Klein.
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
Twenty-five years later, people are paying attention to Bassett’s own influence on young women, then and now, according to author Sunita Kumar Nair: “The whole TikTok account, the whole social media account, is based on Carolyn’s style,” Nair says.
More importantly, Kumar Nair said, fashion designers today still draw inspiration from Bassette: “Her long opera gloves, for example, were recently shown on the Marc Jacobs runway.”
in “CBK: Carolyn Bassett Kennedy: A Life in Fashion” (Abrams Publishing), Kumar Nair examines Bassett’s fashion style and her enduring appeal.
Abrams
From the moment she first appeared at Kennedy’s side until they both died three years later, Carolyn Bassett was one of the most photographed women in the world. “She had a very strong understanding of what suited her and what the camera liked,” says Kumar Nair. “That was her charm and probably what distinguishes her from a lot of other women of our time.”
She described Bassett’s wardrobe style: “White shirts, white T-shirts, really nice coats, jackets. She loved jeans. That’s where the foundation of the wardrobe is built.”
Bassett’s photograph was taken more than a decade before social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube made photos accessible to celebrities. Several She has a right to control her image, but in the late 1990s, Bassett found herself hounded by paparazzi even while walking her dog.
“I understand why the fashion industry wants to celebrate her, why books like this exist, because she was such an influence on so many designers, so many people who were searching for their own style,” said Robin Givhan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post.
Givhan said there are some disturbing aspects to the photos today: “I also felt that in almost all of them she appeared as an unwilling subject.”
Givhan said it’s a glimpse into Bassett’s relentless exposure to the spotlight: “In most of these photographs, she’s either turning away from the camera or just trying to withdraw into herself. So in that sense, it’s really sad that there’s just an implicit meaning of sadness in this book when it’s clearly intended to be celebratory.”
Bassett was a shy woman who did not like attention. Did that make Kumar Nair hesitate to write the book? “Of course! That’s one of the reasons it took me so long to write it!” she replied.
But she said the book was simply a celebration of Ms. Bassett’s keen sense of design and fashion.
The most obvious example? The very simple white slip dress in pearl white silk crepe and silk tulle veil that Bassett wore on her wedding day. It was designed by Narciso Rodriguez, long before the brand was even created. “It was a very simple look,” says Givhan. [it] She emphasized that she never thought of herself as a traditional princess. do not have A princess dress. It wasn’t anything too fancy.
“She knew people would see it. Everyone knew this picture would be seen all around the world and honestly, this is one of the few pictures you’ll ever see where you see that genuine joy on her face,” Givhan said.
And more than anything Carolyn Bassett wore that day, it was that simple, pure joy that will remain most enduring: an American love story that will never end.
“These photographs create a fantasy for us that never unravels – it’s frozen in time – they will forever remain in our memories as a young, active couple,” Givhan said.
Detailed information:
Story by Mary LaFari. Edited by Joseph Frandino.