Sarah Pidgeon Embraces Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's Minimalism

Sarah Pidgeon attends the Khaite fashion show during New York Fashion Week on February 14, 2026 wearing a sleek black outfit seemingly inspired by Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's timeless '90s minimalism — (Image credit: Getty Images/Aeon/GC Images)

Sarah Pidgeon is currently starring in the FX limited series Love Story, which tracks the relationship between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. Pidgeon portrays fashion publicist Bessette-Kennedy in the show, and it appears as though her character's timeless style has influenced her own aesthetic.

On February 14, Pidgeon joined her Love Story co-stars Grace Gummer and Naomi Watts at Khaite's New York fashion week show. Sitting front row, Pidgeon opted for an all-black outfit—perfectly in keeping with Bessette-Kennedy's '90s minimalism.

Photographs of Pidgeon's outfit reveal she was wearing a partially sheer, off-the-shoulder dress, with a pair of high-vamp patent heels and an ankle-length overcoat.

Pidgeon has taken her role playing Bessette-Kennedy extremely seriously. "What was so exciting in taking on this role was this freedom I had in learning about this person and then creating this character," the actress told Marie Claire's Halie LeSavage. "[I wasn't] necessarily limited by something so literal, because there wasn't a ton to go off of."

Grace Gummer and Sarah Pidgeon attend the Khaite fashion show during New York Fashion Week on February 14, 2026 wearing a sleek black outfit seemingly inspired by Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's timeless '90s minimalism — Grace Gummer and Sarah Pidgeon attend the Khaite fashion show during New York Fashion Week on February 14, 2026.

Of the controversy surrounding Love Story, Pidgeon told Marie Claire, "I don't think it was super-shocking that people were invested in Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and had strong opinions on what we were doing. But it was a real opportunity to understand what it might have been like for her, and that's always helpful."

Decades later, the fashion publicist's inimitable style continues to influence people everywhere, making Pidgeon's chic homage completely relatable.

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Amy Mackelden is the weekend editor at Marie Claire, where she covers celebrity and royal family news. She was the weekend editor at Harper’s BAZAAR for three years, where she covered breaking celebrity and entertainment news, royal stories, fashion, beauty, and politics. Prior to that, she spent a year as the joint weekend editor for Marie Claire, ELLE, and Harper's BAZAAR, and two years as an entertainment writer at Bustle. Her additional bylines include Cosmopolitan, People, The Independent, HelloGiggles, Biography, Shondaland, Best Products, New Statesman, Heat, and The Guardian. Her work has been syndicated by publications including Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Delish, Oprah Daily, Country Living, and Women's Health. Her celebrity interviews include Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Chastain, the cast of Selling Sunset, Emma Thompson, Jessica Alba, and Penn Badgley. In 2015, she delivered an academic paper at Kimposium, the world's first Kardashian conference.