This week, I checked in on the beauty brands and consumers tapping into CBK’s ‘90s style — and the brewing pushback. Additionally, Charlotte Tilbury shakes up its C-suite, and Summer Fridays expands to fragrance.
The Carolyn Bessette Kennedy phenomenon means lots of buzz — and some backlash
In June, Ryan Murphy’s production studio released a first look at Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette Kennedy in an upcoming TV dramatization of her relationship with John F. Kennedy, Jr. Audiences were quick to express their disappointment at the interpretation of the style icon — Pidgeon’s shade of blonde was too platinum, her coat more Zara than Calvin Klein and her Birkin not even the right model.
Murphy pivoted and hired costume designer Rudy Mance to revamp Pidgeon’s look — to great acclaim. Since the premiere of “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette” on February 12, viewers have seized the opportunity to take inspiration from Bessette Kennedy’s style, searching for ways to replicate her lipstick, headband, hair color and even perfume.
“There is such a timelessness about her beauty aesthetic,” said Maddie Aberman, deputy editor of Ipsy, which published a roundup of beauty products inspired by Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s style in February. “That resonates with definitely Ipsy members, and I think just the modern beauty consumer who is maybe a little a little burnt out on these hyper trends that we’re cycling through so fast today.”
Perfume brand Nemat said, in the past month, it has seen a 155% increase in direct-to-consumer sales of its Egyptian Musk perfume oil, which has been cited as analogous to the Egyptian musk perfume Bessette Kennedy herself wore. Google searches for “Carolyn Bessette Kennedy blond” have risen 100% since the show’s premiere. Calvin Klein stock rose to $72.17 a share a week after the show’s premiere from $62.80 at the beginning of February.
In some ways, the fervor around Carolyn Bessette Kennedy resembles countless style microtrends of seasons past, where terms like “mob wife aesthetic” or “tomato girl summer” cycle in and out of social media tutorials and shopping roundups. But unlike those trends, the CBK phenomenon centers around a real figure — one whose style was honed well before TikTok and whose untimely death makes capitalizing on her image a thornier proposition.
“Carolyn’s looks automatically feel a little bit cooler or more authentic, because instead of taking that inspiration from Pinterest or TikTok, like we might today, she was more immersed in this lifestyle that was actually, authentically influencing how she was dressing,” said Cassidy Allan, senior social strategist at social agency AntiSocial.
But the impulse to offer an instant-checkout version of Bessette Kennedy’s aesthetic is in some ways an antithesis to what was a finely-honed personal style, Allan said. “People were initially really wondering, ‘How do I recreate this look?’ And now it has almost recycled itself very quickly around into, ‘What is this Zara-ification of the clothes we’re seeing in the show?’”
Face Stockholm CEO Martina Arfwidson recalled Bessette Kennedy visiting the brand’s former Soho store, where she shopped for brand’s Cranberry Veil lipstick and the since-discontinued #13 sheer nail polish she wore to her wedding to JFK Jr. On an episode of “Love Story,” Pidgeon is shown receiving a manicure with Essie’s Not Red-y For Bed polish.
“People are really obsessed with her. And naturally, [she] looked so beautiful. They were both so gorgeous,” said Arfwidson, whose mother, Gun Nowak, founded Face Stockholm in 1982. “I worked the store myself back in the day. And, of course, she would come in all the time. They were always spotted in Soho.”
While Arfwidson appreciates seeing a new generation seeking out the brand thanks to CBK’s legacy, she said she is hesitant to rely too heavily on Bessette Kennedy’s influence.
“It’s against my grain to capitalize on [celebrity endorsements]. We’ve always been super discreet with that. We have acknowledged [that she was a customer], but I would never put her on our website, for example,” she said. “It’s [about] this great respect for her family, too. I mean, what a tragedy. It’s finding a balance; I’m very, very proud, but I’m not going to plaster it all over.”
Allure contributing editor Marci Robin criticized the commodification of CBK’s legacy in an opinion piece for the publication. “Brands that didn’t even exist in 1999 are diluting this complex, intelligent woman — who, lest we forget, died tragically — into a tool to sell their stuff without her consent,” wrote the beauty editor. Bessette Kennedy died in a plane crash in 1999 along with her sister and husband, who was piloting the aircraft.
Even with those reservations, the CBK phenomenon has found an audience as her look intersects with much of the zeitgeist, including the persistent quiet luxury and clean girl aesthetics, an ongoing nostalgia for ‘90s style and a fascination with all things romance and dating.
“People have been relaxing into watching the ’90s [on ‘Love Story’], because it has that nostalgia — whether or not you experience nostalgia firsthand or secondhand, like the Gen-Z generation,” said Alexandra Mathieu, vp of strategy and creative at influencer agency Open Influence. “We’re seeing romanticism and romance making a comeback. This isn’t exclusive to just ‘Love Story.’ But we’re seeing ‘Wuthering Heights,’ we’re seeing ‘Bridgerton.’ There’s just a lot of romance in the air.”
While “Love Story” has introduced Bessette Kennedy to a new generation of consumers, and a new wave of discourse, CBK’s style has come in and out of the public eye for years. Arfwidson recalls The Strategist recommending Face Stockholm’s Cranberry Veil as Bessette Kennedy’s preferred shade in 2017, while Cat Marnell wrote about her beauty routine for Jane Pratt’s confessional-driven women’s publication xoJane in 2012.
Marnell will not be tuning in to see how “Love Story” has captured CBK’s style for the 2026 audience, however.
“I detest Ryan Murphy and think he is an exploitative vulture who picks at the carcasses of the dead. I’ve never watched one of his shows and never will,” Marnell told Glossy over email.
Executive moves:
- Charlotte Tilbury named Jérôme Leloup as CMO following the departure of CEO Demetra Pinsent. Leloup joined from fellow Puig-owned Rabanne, where he served as vp. Pinsent had led the makeup brand since its founding in 2012.
- Kurt Kober was named CEO of KYT Group amid the company’s acquisition of Glo Skin Beauty. Kober, a co-founder and previously managing partner of the investment and advisory firm, held prior roles at The Honest Company and Clorox. In addition, Michael Yanover, co-founder and managing partner of KYT Group, was named to Glo Skin Beauty’s board of directors.
- Carly Levine joined Evermark as social media and influencer lead. Evermark was formed when Suave and Elida merged their portfolios. Levine previously worked with Bluemercury and Skinfix in social media roles.
News to know:
- Pat McGrath Labs is up for sale again amid bankruptcy proceedings. Gordian Group, the brand’s court-appointed investment bank, is reportedly seeking acquisition opportunities for the makeup line.
- Summer Fridays is expanding to fragrance. The beauty brand known for its lip butters will launch the Sunlit Vanilla eau de parfum on March 16 as a Sephora exclusive, where it will retail for $82 for a 50-milliliter bottle. The brand first launched fragrance in 2021 through a limited-edition rollerball trio.
- Coty opened an AI-driven fragrance store in Hong Kong. The beauty giant’s multi-brand store My Scent Edit in Mong Kok offers AI-powered scent consultations. Coty announced a partnership with AI platform OpenAI in February to bring artificial intelligence to its internal operations.
Stat of the week:
Sales of $100-plus beauty products grew 12% year-over-year on Amazon to reach $2.3 billion in 2025, according to Front Row. The category represented 7% of sales in Amazon’s overall beauty category, which grew 19% as a whole in 2025.
In the headlines:
Reddit’s transformation from snarky reviews to beauty marketing tool. Putting on the shvitz. Opinion: K-beauty needs more than salmon sperm, snail mucin to win the U.S. Korean beauty is booming, my Korean beauty brand is closing.
Listen in:
In the latest episode, Glossy Beauty Podcast host Lexy Lebsack is joined by senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi and senior beauty reporter Emily Jensen to unpack the latest tariff news and share how brands are responding.
Need a Glossy recap?
How Schwarzkopf is winning pop culture, from Sarah Pidgeon’s CBK transformation to Alysa Liu’s halo hair. “The perfume houses of tomorrow are scaling up today”: Matiere Premiere’s CEO on priming the brand for global expansion. Glossy Pop Newsletter: Why a beauty brand is giving Gen Alpha equity. Can solid perfume be the next body mist?
