At first glance, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy represented the opposite of Los Angeles style. On her wedding day, she wore a surprisingly revealing slip-dress by
Narciso Rodriguez. But most of the time, Bessette stood, in her clunky boots and knee-length camel skirts, in contrast to the bright and showy West Coast. Her palette of navy, black and camel was out of place in this summer of pink. The pointed collars of her stark white shirts and slightly sculpted
Yohji Yamamoto jackets were as detailed as she got in a season of gold embroidery, saris, sashes and beads. But we appreciated the strong, creative facets of her style, a flair that connected her to the West Coast too.
At the
Fire and Ice Ball this past December, one of her few appearances in Los Angeles, Bessette stood out amid a slightly garish display. There was
Madonna with one nipple poking out of her dress.
Cindy Crawford's beautiful soft eyes making their way through rigid layers of mascara. Scores of starlets in the biggest diamonds they'd ever seen-and would give back the next day. In an evening of Hollywood excess Bessette instead chose a stark white wool gown, covered to the wrists and resembling a priest's robe. She blended into the scene in one way: with her glorious bright-blonde hair. The only woman we saw that night with anything resembling it was
Donatella Versace, a mistress of fake but compelling beauty who matched her golden locks with a
Harry Winston yellow-diamond ring. Who'd have suspected this connection? Carolyn liked to play a bit more than we first saw. She enjoyed tinkering with the most obvious tools of glamour. Don't forget the red lipstick-"pinky brown" didn't mean anything to this woman. We would have liked to see her again.
