The Tamesis
They say never make big cosmetic changes in the months leading up to your wedding. No haircuts, new skin care routines, or major color changes. But apparently, Caroline Bessette-Kennedy almost defied that adage the day before her incredibly high-profile wedding to John F. Kennedy Jr.
I spoke with colorist Brad Johns last summer after the first photos of Ryan Murphy were released and sparked a huge public response. love story series (which depicts the relationship between Bassett and Kennedy). Johns was the coolest colorist of the 1990s. When he opened his eponymous Fifth Avenue salon, it had just eight chairs, where you could find fashion royalty like Kate Moss and Christy Turlington flanked by literal royalty. During our time together, I learned how he uses his proprietary sectioning method to perfectly achieve Bessette-Kennedy’s signature “beach kid” hair color. It was something the pair “worked very hard to do right.”
But, he added, it barely waited until her wedding. “Caroline came to see me at the salon the day before the wedding,” Johns told me over the phone. “I knew nothing about the wedding. I loved her, she was my friend, but I didn’t know him. She sat me down and told me, ‘We have to change my color.'”
He was shocked, he said, and even more shocked when she then said, “I want to be black.” But his response to that was short and sweet: “I told her, ‘I wouldn’t do that.'”
Bessette-Kennedy said she was nervous, adding, “‘Something big is happening and I want to look different.'” However, he refused to do so.
Finally, photos from her big day were revealed – and Johns was relieved that he had remained steadfast. “I called Caroline and asked her, ‘What do you think you would look like in that Narciso dress with your hair in a black bun?’ She was relieved and said she trusted me.”
