What happened to Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s clothes?

A 1998 paparazzi photograph of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy in a camel Prada coat has become iconic; that very coat fetched $192,000 at auction this March, more than six times its high estimate and a world record for any garment tied to the late style icon. The full sale, handled by The Fashion Auctioneer, brought in $408,750, and every lot found a buyer — yet the coat is one of only seven authenticated pieces from her wardrobe ever to reach the market.

Most of those authenticated items were gifts to RoseMarie Terenzio, John F. Kennedy Jr.’s longtime assistant and a close friend of the couple. Terenzio has called Bessette Kennedy a “fashion fairy godmother,” saying, “It wasn’t just like, ‘Oh, that would look good on you.’ You’re gonna feel so good in this.” She says she passed along some pieces in the hope they’d be appreciated, donated part of the auction proceeds to Hearts of Gold, and declines to reveal exactly what she still keeps.

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