Even among the most legendary runway models and red carpet stars of the 1990s, the late Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy stood out. Best known for her effortlessly chic, put-together (never overdone) style and her whirlwind relationship with husband John F. Kennedy Jr., the enigmatic muse redefined the girl-next-door look through her relatively bare-faced makeup (save for the occasional red lipstick) and casual beach waves. Thanks to the buzz surrounding Ryan Murphy’s highly anticipated American Love Story, Bessette-Kennedy is once again influencing the beauty world, and we anticipate seeing “Carolyn Bessette blonde” become one of fall 2025’s top hair-color trends.
Celebrity colorist Brad Johns, the mastermind behind Bessette-Kennedy’s hue, predicts her pretty blonde shade will be a major trend in the near future. As the go-to stylist among New York City’s elite during the glamorous ‘90s, Johns helped some of the biggest names in entertainment and fashion look their best at his Fifth Avenue salon. And if models like Christy Turlington and Kate Moss weren’t seated in one of his chairs, Carolyn would be.
Johns predicts his work will reemerge in part thanks to the buzz and subsequent controversy over American Love Story‘s much-maligned depiction of the couple’s classic wardrobe and Bessette-Kennedy’s signature hair color. “The 20-year-old girls [nowadays]—their mothers were blonde because of Carolyn,” he says. “So, I think there is going to be a revival of this kind of beachy, chunky look.”
Johns became Bessette-Kennedy’s colorist during her early days as a publicist at Calvin Klein before she had even met JFK Jr. “I’m pretty sure when she [first] came in, her hair was her natural color—a gorgeous, light golden brown,” Johns tells The Daily Beast. “We both thought she should be blonde,” says Johns. “I [told her], ‘You’re too stunning not to be blonde…it would be iconic.’” And iconic it certainly was. (Who else’s shade could have incited such an uproar over its historical accuracy?)
Johns used his signature chunking method to establish the beachy highlights that he says they agreed couldn’t be achieved all in one appointment, but the goal was always to make Bassette’s resemble a child’s beachy hair—not too blonde anywhere but around the face.
If you’re not ready to go all-over blonde just yet, there’s good news: Johns encourages keeping your color subtler in the autumn and going brighter in the warmer months. “That kind of blonding has to be done over time,” he tells The Daily Beast. “It has to be done seasonally, like lighter in the summer, and tone it down in the fall.”
Johns, now a Los Angeles glass artist who authored a memoir titled DYE in 2023, says clients like Bassett trusted his input—even when he suggested changing things up in unexpected ways—because they trusted him so deeply. “I had no intention of anything other than making them look good, as if they were my paintings walking down the street,” says Johns.
The two not only collaborated to create her signature blonde look but also developed a deep friendship. After the news that the Kennedys’ plane went missing in 1999, Johns says he had a feeling that Bessette-Kennedy had not survived. “I got a vision of her, like hair floating in water,” Johns recalls. “It was hard.” Bessette-Kennedy, her husband, and her sister Lauren Bessette were all killed when their plane, piloted by JFK Jr., crashed off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.
It speaks to Bessette-Kennedy’s enduring influence that, even 25 years after her passing, she continues to serve as an inspiration—both for the philanthropic work she engaged in later in life and for those who yearn to find out whether blondes really do have more fun.
The post Mark My Words, ‘Carolyn Bessette Blonde’ Will Be Fall 2025’s Biggest Hair-Color Trend appeared first on The Daily Beast.
