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Here at ELLE HQ, FX’s Love Story has taken over our collective consciousness. We’re constantly discussing what perfume Carolyn Bessette Kennedy actually wore. We’re enamored with her classic style: her bootcut jeans, her accessories, her engagement ring. But more than anything else, we can’t stop talking about actress Sarah Pidgeon’s on-screen hairstyle, which mirrors Bessette Kennedy’s buttery blonde.
I spoke with Pidgeon’s hair colorist Kari Hill, as well as her on-set hairstylist Barry Lee Moe, to talk about the star’s eye-catching locks in the show. We covered all of the major questions fans have been itching to know, including how Pidgeon’s hair shifted from dimensional and wavy to platinum and sleek; the exact headbands Bessette Kennedy herself wore; and which products were used to shape Pidgeon into a lookalike CBK. Here’s what we learned.
“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.”
Here at ELLE HQ, FX’s Love Story has taken over our collective consciousness. We’re constantly discussing what perfume Carolyn Bessette Kennedy actually wore. We’re enamored with her classic style: her bootcut jeans, her accessories, her engagement ring. But more than anything else, we can’t stop talking about actress Sarah Pidgeon’s on-screen hairstyle, which mirrors Bessette Kennedy’s buttery blonde.
I spoke with Pidgeon’s hair colorist Kari Hill, as well as her on-set hairstylist Barry Lee Moe, to talk about the star’s eye-catching locks in the show. We covered all of the major questions fans have been itching to know, including how Pidgeon’s hair shifted from dimensional and wavy to platinum and sleek; the exact headbands Bessette Kennedy herself wore; and which products were used to shape Pidgeon into a lookalike CBK. Here’s what we learned.
How did they give Pidgeon the proper hair texture?
At the beginning of the show, Pidgeon’s Bessette Kennedy rocks air-dried-looking hair—almost like beach waves. Pidgeon’s natural texture is straighter, but to mimic Bessette Kennedy’s wave pattern, Lee Moe had her sleep in braids every night. “That created this soft, beautiful wave that looked extremely natural,” he says. “I would bump that a little bit with a curling iron, just so it didn’t feel too uniform, felt random, and kind of chaotic like Carolyn’s hair always looked.”
As Bessette Kennedy’s life became more public, the way she wore her hair changed. Instead of waves, she opted for sleeker styles. Lee Moe likens this smoother look to a coat of armor. “With the paparazzi constantly swarming her, her hair was like a uniform, and it made her feel safe to have this streamlined, almost uniform approach to her style,” he says. “As we moved into the later part of the series, it became more about classic ’90s blowouts and sleek, smooth styling techniques, to show a shift in who she was as a woman and how she approached her look as she got into the later years.”
How did they re-create CBK’s wedding hair?
Bessette Kennedy’s carefree wedding look is used in bridal mood boards to this day, and the simple hairstyle she chose is a key feature. “Carolyn had this effortless, pulled-back bun for her wedding that she let down throughout the ceremony and the reception, and then it was back up again at some point,” Lee Moe says. “The styling of that particular episode needed to reflect that effortless, beautiful look that she did, and it had to look like she almost did it herself, which was challenging.”
Lee Moe continues, “When you try to recreate a woman’s hair on camera the way she does it herself, it can look contrived. There’s nothing like a girl just pulling her hair up into a messy bun. It’s impossible to recreate that.” To achieve that look, he says he would often ask Pidgeon to throw her hair into a topknot herself, then tidy it himself to make it camera-ready.
Why is Pidgeon constantly touching her hair in Love Story?
In the show, Pidgeon is repeatedly running her fingers through her hair and tossing it around. According to Lee Moe, Bessette Kennedy did the same thing in real life. “In every image that you look at of Carolyn, you can almost see that she’s just touched her hair,” Lee Moe says. “It’s clear that she was constantly tousling her hair. Hair does tell so much of the story without saying anything. One little hair flip can really indicate your mood for that moment.”
Hill also kept this in mind while she was placing highlights in Pidgeon’s hair. “Watching her do that, and learning that that was part of the character, helped us decide where we [were] putting the highlights,” she says. “We would look at the inspiration photos of Carolyn and place the blonde exactly where we saw it when she would flip her hair this way or that way. Color placement was a big thing.”
What products did they use?
Hair health was always top of mind when Lee Moe reached for products. “I used Unite Hair 7Seconds Detangler as a daily hydrating product for her hair,” he says. “When we put it in the braids at night, we would work that through to help set the wave. I used a lot of hair oils, like the Unite Blonda Hair Oil. It keeps that shine in the hair, and it keeps it hydrated throughout the day. I used the Unite Texturiza Spray, especially in the early days.”