Can a nine-episode limited series really impact an entire season of shopping trends? Today brands are experiencing—and chasing—the “Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy effect” as a result of Ryan Murphy’s Love Story. And in many cases, it’s more pervasive than they could have prepared for.
The FX series, based on the relationship between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, ran from February 12 to March 26, 2026. In that time a cultural obsession with Bessette-Kennedy’s minimalistic ’90s style has taken over the trend cycle, with fans scrambling to hunt down her signature scent, go-to Levi’s, and tortoiseshell accessories.
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Brands with an authentic connection to Bessette-Kennedy, including some New York City small businesses, experienced unprecedented surges in consumer demands for products touted as her staples. And other fashion, beauty, and accessory retailers found—and stretched—any viable connection to the style icon’s aesthetic in attempt to get a piece of the pie.
Love Story’s critics have pointed out the bizarre nature of the all-consuming 2026 trends based on the aesthetic taste of a famously private person—especially one who died tragically over 25 years ago. It’s also worth acknowledging that the current public desire to emulate Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy is the result of a fictionalization of her life. But the show’s cultural impact over the last seven weeks, especially in beauty and fashion commerce, has been impossible to deny.
Ahead, we spoke to retailers connected to Bessette-Kennedy about how sales, marketing strategies, and consumer interest have shifted in response to the Love Story phenomenon.
Glamour previously reported on the surge of first-time customers visiting C.O. Bigelow, the 1838-founded Greenwich Village pharmacy where Bessette-Kennedy bought her tortoise headbands. “People on social media have really dug into her lifestyle—where she shopped, where she would eat—and have really explored us and discovered us through that,” said C.O. Bigelow’s marketing manager, Sarah Barnes. “It’s been a really insane, insane time for us.”
In addition to a viral social media moment and weekend crowds, the C.O. Bigelow team reported significant increases in demand for the French-imported Charles Wahba headbands. While the pharmacy had stopped sharing sales metrics when we spoke in March, Emily Sunberg, the writer of culture-meets-business Substack Feed Me, reported that the store sold over six figures’ worth of hair accessories in February alone, per C.O. Bigelow’s chief operating officer.