JFK Jr. and Bessette-Kennedy at the the “Bright Night Whitney” Annual Fundraising Gala, 1999.
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She was a lover of Prada and Miu Miu, yes, but she was also a devotee of the house of Yohji Yamamoto, one of the rebellious Japanese designers that upended the Paris set. She was an avid adapter of his subtle avant-garde, primarily shopping the current runway season. In today’s terms she was a “VIC” (a very important client) with whom the house kept a close relationship. From her fall 1998 strapless dress to her spring 1999 wrapped skirt and Yohji Yamamoto Homme button-down, these looks are frequently her most adored.
Yamamoto’s quiet but disruptive elegance mirrored Bessette-Kennedy’s own, and her clothing’s stoicism perhaps lent her a symbolic voice in the courtroom of public debate. (It’s not lost on many that—amid all the tabloid documentation of her life—there are only two clips of her speaking in existence, both of which are under 10 seconds.) If her choice of brand seems obvious now, it’s because a lesson in CBK’s style is, in some ways, a prominent footnote in the history of how the Japanese avant-garde altered the fashion world.