Sarah Pidgeon said she pushed hard for one specific piece of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s wardrobe to make it into Love Story, the Chanel floral midi dress from the spring/summer 1996 collection. It never did, even though she had access to Bessette Kennedy’s clothes while filming.
Pidgeon was talking about the missed look last night at Chanel’s annual Tribeca Artists Dinner at Tribeca Grill, where she turned up in a sleek leather minidress from Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel 2026 Métiers d’art collection. The dress was trimmed with interlocking Cs at the hips, and she paired it with square-toe pumps and layers of 18K white-gold pieces from Chanel’s Coco Crush line, along with the Première Galon timepiece in white gold and diamonds.
The Chanel dress she wanted for the show was not just any archival reference. Pidgeon described it as bias-cut, with sling-backs and hair tossed to one side, the kind of look that reads as effortless rather than dressed up. She said, “I begged them to put that in the show,” adding that the dress made Bessette Kennedy look “so summery, absolutely beautiful, and at ease.”
That interest lands differently because Pidgeon was born in 1996 and said she does not really have a lived experience of the ’90s. What she does feel, she said, is a longing for “this time of anonymity and ‘you had to be there’ moments,” which helps explain why the look carried so much weight for her. It also places the choice in the middle of a production that was clearly working with Bessette Kennedy’s wardrobe but still drew the line at at least one dress Pidgeon most wanted.
The timing gave the comments extra bite. The Tribeca Artists Dinner was in its 19th edition this year and coincided with the Tribeca Festival’s 25th anniversary, even as the night also fell on Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Pidgeon said, “I haven’t been able to shake Robert De Niro’s hand,” and added, “Maybe I can get that in tonight.” The dress she wanted may still be absent from Love Story, but her comments made clear it remains the one fashion moment she has not stopped thinking about.
