Sarah Pidgeon had unprecedented access to Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s wardrobe while filming Love Story, and she remains candid about a single dress she wished had appeared in the series, the floral bias-cut midi from Chanel’s spring summer 1996 collection designed by Karl Lagerfeld, which she says she "begged them to put" in the show, Pidgeon tells ELLE.
On the red carpet at Chanel’s Tribeca Artists Dinner Pidgeon wore a leather minidress by Matthieu Blazy from the Chanel 2026 Métiers d’art collection, featuring interlocking Cs at the hips and the house’s square-toe pumps, and she balanced the look with multiple 18K white-gold Coco Crush pieces and the Première Galon white-gold timepiece in diamonds, she notes.
The dinner at Tribeca Grill highlighted the 2026 Artist Awards Program curated by Zoe Lukov, and the program’s roster includes Bony Ramirez, Brendan Fernandes, Carrie Mae Weems, Hank Willis Thomas, Jason Bard Yarmosky, Joshua Woods, Kiki Smith, Soull and Dynasty Ogun, Tavares Strachan, and Tosh Basco, and the event drew guests such as Ayo Edebiri, Sofia Coppola, Katie Holmes, Paloma Elsesser, Alex Consani, and Whoopi Goldberg.
Pidgeon says the evening felt personal after months spent filming in the neighborhood, adding that she was born in 1996 and felt a particular longing for the era’s anonymity and "you had to be there" moments, a sentiment she describes as part of inhabiting Bessette Kennedy’s world in Tribeca, which sits just blocks from the Kennedys’ former loft on North Moore Street.
Career Impact And Public Reaction
Playing Carolyn Bessette Kennedy has altered Pidgeon’s approach to presentation and storytelling, she says, and the role required studying documentaries and accounts to build the character because Carolyn never sat down for an interview, a challenge Pidgeon describes as shaping her performance choices.
The physical transformation included a sustained blonde change for the part, which Pidgeon says took significant time to achieve and has shifted her taste in color and style, as she notes that her clothes feel different with the CBK-inspired hair and that she is exploring different tones of blonde.
Pidgeon’s career to date includes stage and screen credits and critical recognition, including a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Stereophonic, and her lead portrayal of Carolyn has generated strong audience interest and online discussion about costuming and visual choices, which she says underscored the importance of honoring Carolyn’s legacy.
