Design
Bessette met designer Narciso Rodriguez during her time working at Calvin Klein (fashion house), Calvin Klein. She asked Rodriguez to design her wedding dress while having drinks at The Odeon restaurant in New York City. Two three-hour couture fittings for the dress took place in Paris, France. The gown was pearl-white silk Crêpe (textile), crêpe with a cowl décolletage. Rodriguez said, "It's pretty seductive for a wedding dress, wouldn't you say? It shows Carolyn's personality: clean, classic, sexy, seductive." The dress was a gift from Rodriguez and valued around $40,000. Along with the gown, Bessette wore a long tulle veil, sheer gloves, and beaded Manolo Blahnik strappy sandals. Bessette's bun (hairstyle), bun hairstyle was pinned and held by a clip which had belonged to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, John's mother. Her bouquet, arranged by Rachel Lambert Mellon, contained lily of the valley.Reception and influence
Bessette's gown was positively received by the public and fashion world alike, with women desperately shopping for wedding dresses similar to Bessette's. Alan Millstein, a fashion newsletter editor, stated "Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue hasn't had anything like this since Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, Princess Di's wedding." The dress has been described as "one of the most iconic wedding dresses of the 90s", and as having "been noted in fashion history as breaking ground for minimalist brides". The dress changed the landscape of wedding gowns by inspiring minimalist designs. ''i-D'' magazine said the dress' simplicity "marked a departure from the era's voluminous princess dresses and solidified an emerging trend: the understated slip-style wedding dress". ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'' said the dress "may be one of the most sought-after gowns of all time. [Bessette] hands-down changed the wedding dress game—making it acceptable and desirable to wear something refined and simple: a white silk slip rather than princess-y tulle and an embellished gown." ''Women's Wear Daily'' said the gown "shifted bridal fashion into a new, modernist era". The dress launched the career of designer Narciso Rodriguez. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle described Bessette's gown as "everything goals". Markle's Wedding dress of Meghan Markle, wedding dress at her Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, wedding to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry of the United Kingdom in 2018 was likened to a formal dress Bessette-Kennedy wore in 1998, and her wedding reception dress was described as "reminiscent" of Bessette's wedding gown.See also
* List of individual dressesReferences
{{reflist Wedding dresses 1990s fashion 1996 in the United States American fashion Weddings in the United States Kennedy family