Ryan Murphy vs. the Cult of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy

Plus: The new shoe label quietly launched by The Row’s design director (ex-Celine, Bottega, Loewe)

Happy Sunday friends!

Last week’s edit on rituals clearly struck a chord. So many of you wrote in about your own everyday luxuries from your coffee rituals, sleep routines in silk bonnets, to the perfect wine glass.’ve got more where that came from, so expect a part two soon. I really do believe romanticising the mundane makes everything richer.

This week, I wanted to pivot to something currently lighting up group chats and comment sections alike: the backlash to Ryan Murphy’s first glimpse of American Love Story, his upcoming series on John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.

But first, every week I recommend three outfits for your week ahead, for work, for brunch, and for attending a wedding. Here are this week’s looks.

Work Outfit

Clockwise from top left: Oroton blazer, Yaneth Chloe top, Massimo Dutti cord necklace, Citizens of Humanity miro jeans, Déhanche suede belt, Freja tote, Toteme flats

Brunch Outfit

Clockwise from top left: Sass and Bide trench, Cos tee, Anna Quan vest, Frankie Shop shorts, Dries Van Noten sneakers, Khaite tote

Wedding Outfit

Clockwise from top left: Camilla and Marc leather coat, The Row clutch, Toteme cocoon dress, Christen sandals

This brand is one to watch. Nina Christen is the Director of Shoe Design at The Row, with past stints at Celine, Bottega Veneta, and Loewe. The pedigree shows.

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Ryan Murphy’s CBK Needs Notes

Photo: The Cut, Tyler Mallory/Getty Images

If you haven’t seen the photos, Ryan Murphy released two images of actors playing JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. They were stills, apparently, from a camera test, captioned as such on Instagram. Not costumes, he later clarified. He said he posted them early to get ahead of paparazzi.

Photo: Instagram, @ryanmurphyproductions

But instead, they sent the internet spiralling because of how wrong those images looked, especially to anyone with even a passing interest in Carolyn (hello?!, everyone!!). From the LA-ash-blonde hair, to the harsh makeup, and painfully generic clothing, it felt like a caricature of a woman who’s become a kind of secular saint of minimalist American elegance.

Murphy’s response was that he was surprised by the criticism. In an interview with Variety, he said: “Carolyn Bessette is clearly a religious figure and it’s a religion of her own... it’s very interesting that people become so inflammatory.”

Here’s the thing: if you’re telling the story of a woman who is revered precisely for her visual language, for her restraint, her polish, her ability to convey quiet power through simplicity, how do you not get the visuals right? They’re not background noise. They are part of the story. And then dismiss the backlash as internet hysteria? It feels a little gaslighty.

Murphy said he hired a ten-person “style advisory board” to help source and reference her wardrobe. “The names of the board members will be released at a later date when all their contracts are signed.” So while he publicly shrugged off the criticism, it also appears to have sparked action. That’s encouraging.

To understand CBK is to understand how her image operated (and lives on). The hair, the tailoring, the colour palette, the sensual minimalism, it’s all part of the mythology. To strip that away in the first official release of your series, and then call the response “mean-spirited,” suggests a fundamental misunderstanding of your subject and impact.

Of course the makeup and styling mattered. Of course, they’re not the whole story. This was a private woman thrust into the limelight due to the man she loved. Much has been written about her struggle adjust to that fame, and about her and “John-John’s” relationship. But CBK’s enduring influence, her cult status in fashion moodboards, her steady hold on cultural imagination, is inseparable from how she looked. If you miss that, you miss her.

And let’s be honest: the crossover between CBK stans and Substack fashion girlies is real. We can tell the difference between 90s blonde and LA bleach. We’re not being dramatic by expecting care when her legacy is being adapted for the screen.

All that said, I’m genuinely excited to see how this series comes together now that there’s so much attention and care being paid. I want it to be good. I want them to get it right. Because if they do, it could be magic.

More next week.

xx

Cathy