Being a celebrity comes with certain perks. Chief among them: access to the very best in archive fashion. Hailey Bieber, beauty mogul, mother, and all-round expert in the art of being famous, is one A-lister who knows how to put that access to good use.
For a party at the private Harry’s Bar in London’s Mayfair to celebrate the arrival of Michael Ratner’s entertainment company OBB in the city, Hailey outdid herself in a Cerruti by Narciso Rodriguez spring 1997 dress sourced from My Runway Archive. The champagne-colored, bias-cut, crystal-embellished slip was confirmed to be “one and the same” as that worn by Carolyn Bessette Kennedy to her wedding rehearsal dinner in 1996.
Famously, Rodriguez and a pre-Kennedy Bessette met in 1990 when they worked together at Calvin Klein. It was CBK’s decision to work with Rodriguez on her wedding dress that helped put the then relatively unknown designer on the map. As well as the ivory slip he designed for her big day, Rodriguez made another dress in the same silhouette for the rehearsal dinner. (Recently immortalized in the Ryan Murphy show, Love Story.) More than 30 years on, the same look as found its way onto a contemporary icon of understated luxury in Mrs. Hailey Bieber.
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Of course, it’s not the first time Hailey has dipped into the CBK playbook. In the year that brought us Sarah Pidgeon’s much-dissected portrayal of Carolyn, Hailey’s love of ’90s minimalism has been equally well documented, from her straight-leg cigarette jeans to her LBDs. And while we can all slip on a button-down shirt and an old Calvin Klein skirt to channel a little ’90s New York, if you’ve got access to the real thing, it’s your duty as an A-lister to go the extra mile.