What happened to Narciso Rodriguez, the gay designer of Carolyn Bessette’s wedding dress?
'Love Story: JFK Jr & Carolyn Bessette' has renewed interest in the Narciso Rodriguez wedding gown.
Mark
The world is obsessed with Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.
Since premiering in February, the Ryan Murphy drama – centering on the romance between the real-life gorgeous couple who died tragically in 1999 – has become FX’s most-watched series ever on Hulu and Disney+.
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With a stellar cast lead by Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon in the titular roles, the show has also drawn in audiences who may not be familiar to a time when JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s every move was documented in the media.
The Bessette-Kennedy 1996 nuptials on Georgia’s rustic Cumberland Island was the subject of episode six of the series.
While producers took painstaking steps to recreate the intimate affair, it is Bessette’s exquisitely chic wedding dress that takes center stage.
A sharp contrast to the voluminous matrimonial dresses of the time, the iconic slip crepe gown was created by Bessette’s good friend Narciso Rodriguez.
The gay Cuban-American designer is portrayed by out actor Tonatiuh in the series.
Tonatiuh exclusively told Queerty Entertainment Editor Cameron Scheetz how the role required a physical transformation and that he was lucky enough to meet Rodriguez prior to filming.
In the series, Tonatiuh as Rodriguez takes viewers on a ride as he plays a pivotal role on Bessette’s chaotic wedding day.
You can say it was one small dress (in silhouette) for Bessette, but one giant leap for Rodriguez. The minimalist bridal eleganza would go on to propel Rodriguez’s burgeoning career to the top of the fashion industry.
Who is Narciso Rodriguez?
Born and raised in New Jersey to Cuban immigrant parents, Rodriguez graduated from New York City’s prestigious Parsons School of Design in the ’80s.
After working under fashionista Donna Karan at Anne Klein, he moved on to Calvin Klein where he met Bessette in the early ’90s.
The pair became close very quickly, with Rodriguez eventually moving into an apartment in the same downtown Manhattan building as the future Mrs. Kennedy.
Rodriguez witnessed firsthand as his BFF’s life was splashed across the front pages of every magazine and newspaper. He soon got wrapped into it himself when at 35 years old Bessette asked him to create the outfit for the most important day of her life.
What started as a personal request between dear friends, turned into a global spectacle that sent Rodriguez’s life on a new trajectory.
“It was a very big, kind of scary, unexpected change in my life,” the 65-year-old recently told writer Cat Cardenas in an interview with the LA Times. “I remember going up to my apartment and trying to navigate that when Anna Wintour’s office called and said, ‘Anna would like for you to come to the Princess [Diana] benefit in Washington.'”
You’re not in Kansas anymore, Narciso!
Narciso’s rise to the top
Things kept moving fast and just months later, in 1997, he was approached by luxury conglomerate LVMH to launch his own eponymous line. Simultaneously, Rodriguez was appointed creative director of Loewe’s women’s ready-to-wear division, which he held until 2001.
Rodriguez continued to rack up accolades and break barriers as a trailblazing Hispanic designer. In both 2002 and 2003, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) named Rodriguez womenswear designer of the year.
Throughout this time, Rodriguez was dressing all the major stars with everyone from Queen of Pop Madonna to Miss Carrie Bradshaw herself, thee Sarah Jessica Parker, wanting to be outfitted by his less-is-more minimalist creations.
The Michelle Obama moment
In November 2008, Rodriguez conjured up yet another outfit that once again made headlines around the world —the bold black and red knee-length dress Michelle Obama wore after her husband won the presidential election.
As you would image, it is a moment that makes Rodriguez emotional to this day.
“I think about my mother and father coming here to give their son a chance to live out his dreams,” he told the outlet. “And to have been able to sit with my friends on election night and watch her appear in my dress on such a historic moment — the first African American elected president of the United States — words fail.”
Rodriguez went on to dress Obama on multiple occasions and continued his political stylings by working with First Lady Jill Biden during her husband’s presidency as well.
Family man
Although Bessette’s wedding may have put him on the fashion map, Rodriguez took his own turn down the aisle in 2013.
The designer married advertising executive Thomas Tolan in a private ceremony at the Gramercy Park Hotel in NYC, with celebs in attendance including good friend and client Jessica Alba.
Since then, the couple has expanded their family by welcoming twins in 2017, a boy and a girl.
And in becoming a father, Rodriguez found the perfect way to keep his dear friend even closer. In honor of Bessette, the couple named their daughter Ivy Carolyn.
Feel free to grab a tissue.
With his kids a priority, Rodriguez has refocused his business by concentrating on designing for private clients (including good friends Claire Danes and Juliana Margulies) rather than the stress of putting on massive ready-to-wear collections.
He also runs a highly-successful men’s and women’s fragrance line with Shiseido.
Now with Love Story igniting renewed interest on the wedding gown he made for Bessette, Rodriguez reflected fondly but also set the record straight about what really happened on that special day.
“It was just a magical time in all of our lives,” he shared with the LA Times. “I’ve heard all these amazing stories about how the dress didn’t fit, and I had to sew her into it, and that she was hours late because of it, and none of this is true. But I love that people have made up all these stories.”
Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette airs Thursdays on FX and streams the next day on Hulu.
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‘Love Story: JFK Jr. & Carolyn Bessette’ is a must-watch.
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