While planning her June 2023 nuptials, Nicole Kramer Bader knew that she wanted her wedding dress to mirror the style worn by Carolyn Bessette Kennedy when she married John F. Kennedy Jr. nearly 27 years prior.
“She was just kind of a guiding light for me,” said Ms. Kramer Bader, 31, who lives in Los Angeles and is the events and partnerships manager for fashion brand Frank & Eileen.
When Ms. Bessette Kennedy married Mr. Kennedy in a private ceremony on Sept. 21, 1996, she wore a bias-cut silk crepe Narciso Rodriguez slip dress and sheer gloves. The look was spare, sensual and strikingly modern.
Carole Radziwill, a friend of the couple and the author of “The Voice of Reason” on Substack, attended the wedding with her late husband, Anthony Radziwill, who was Mr. Kennedy’s first cousin. “When Carolyn walked in, she looked almost ethereal,” Ms. Radziwill wrote in an email.
Ms. Kramer Bader chose Danielle Frankel’s Charlie dress for her celebration in Fort Worth, Texas; like Ms. Bessette Kennedy’s dress, the wool-silk gown, which retails for $4,990, is sleeveless with a bias cut. Ms. Kramer Bader didn’t want to feel pressured to incorporate multiple dress changes, the way many brides do today.
“I had to remind myself that Carolyn wore her dress the entire night,” she said.
Ms. Bessette Kennedy’s simple wedding style was a stark contrast to the heavy fabrics and intricate lace detailing that characterized bridal fashion at the time.
It also reflected the minimalist aesthetic that was very much on the rise within, and soon beyond, the fashion world in the ’90s. “She liked to be comfortable and she liked to feel good in what she was wearing,” said RoseMarie Terenzio, a friend of the couple who served as Mr. Kennedy’s chief of staff at George magazine and is the author of “JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography.”
As images of the Bessette-Kennedy wedding circulated, the dress quickly became a cultural phenomenon and one of the most influential bridal looks of the ’90s — and beyond. Valued at $40,000 at the time, it also propelled its designer, Mr. Rodriguez, into the spotlight. (Mr. Rodriguez declined to comment for this article.)
Now, with the success of FX’s “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette,” produced by Ryan Murphy, her long-revered wedding attire may inspire a new generation of brides, many of whom were born after Ms. Bessette Kennedy died in a plane crash on July 17, 1999, with her husband and sister Lauren Bessette.
The wedding dress produced for “Love Story” by the costume director Rudy Mance was made from the same fabric that Mr. Rodriguez used for Ms. Bessette Kennedy’s original gown. During a research visit to B & J Fabrics in New York, a member of Mr. Mance’s team discovered that Mr. Rodriguez had purchased his material there.
“The swatch is now yellowed and discolored, but we actually got to feel the real fabric,” Mr. Mance said, adding that the retailer later connected him with the original mill in Italy, which helped reproduce it.
Mr. Mance said it was important to capture Ms. Bessette Kennedy’s authenticity. “There was no one like her, and there’s been no one like her.”
Wedding planners and stylists said they have long been approached by clients looking to mimic Ms. Bessette Kennedy’s wedding dress, as well as her hair, jewelry and makeup and anticipate that such requests will only increase with the success of the FX series.
“People are going to feel like, ‘OK, I can actually be a little bit more myself and not put so much effort into this and still look gorgeous,’” said Tanya Bures, the founder and lead makeup artist at Page Beauty in Los Angeles.
Kerrie Hileman, the founder of the White Magnolia Bridal Collection, Magnolia Laine Bridal and the Sample Shoppe, said that minimalist styles and materials, including satin, account for almost half of their total gown sales. And she believes there’s a reason for that.
“In times when you’re seeing unrest and chaos in the world, or even financial uncertainty, you really start to see this more simple style come back in,” Ms. Hileman said.
Preena Patel of Preena Presents, a wedding and event planning company in Chicago, believes that Ms. Bessette Kennedy’s wedding dress prompts a larger discussion surrounding confidence and personal identity. “There really is a confidence in not needing extra adornment,” Ms. Patel said.
Jessica Steele, 38, the vice president of retail sales and marketing for the jewelry designer Alexis Bittar, chose to wear a simple, silk Reformation slip dress for her wedding celebration in September 2023 in New York. “I really wanted to feel like myself,” she said.
And Ms. Bessette Kennedy always shared that guiding principle. “The dress was such a perfect expression of who she was — understated, effortless, entirely herself,” Ms. Radziwill said.
“Maybe that’s the enduring lesson,” Ms. Radziwill added. “She showed women that a bridal dress doesn’t have to follow tradition or excess. It can simply reflect your own personal style — and that’s more than enough.”
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