Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s Colorist on Those Ryan Murphy Images

When Ryan Murphy Productions dropped the first teaser images for the upcoming American Love Story, the world…well, had opinions. The new spin-off anthology series tells the story of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s romance, and for many, the images left a lot to be desired.

Specifically, actor Sarah Pidgeon’s transformation into Carolyn, which included almost Gwen Stefani–level blonde hair. And while the internet immediately critiqued Pidgeon’s hair transformation, I wanted to go straight to the source to see how right or wrong it really was: hair colorist Brad Johns, who was known for creating Carolyn’s still-talked-about blonde in the 1990s.

Johns was the colorist of the era. His clients included everyone from Kate Moss and artist Cindy Sherman, to New York City socialites and fashion insiders, including, of course, Bessette. In a 1996 Vogue September issue feature, then beauty editor Amy Astley called Johns “Golden Boy, the Founding Father of Chunking…the Color Czar.” The next year, Johns opened his eponymous salon on Fifth Avenue with eight perpetually-filled chairs. In a three-page spread from Allure’s September 1998 issue, writer Martha Barnette described his signature “chunking” technique, which became popular after he did it on Christy Turlington. It’s “basically grabbing handfuls of hair and highlighting them,” Barnette wrote.

Before I reached out, Johns wasn’t even aware that American Love Story was happening and hadn’t seen the images. After they popped up in his inbox (courtesy of a few screenshots I sent), his ruling was blunt: “No one would believe that Carolyn in the ’90s would ever have that color from me. It’s too 2024.” After that, we decided to get on the phone and chat more about Bessette’s hair color, their relationship, and more.

First, I ask Johns to describe Bessette’s exact color to me, something he says “we worked really hard to get right.” Bessette’s hair was a natural light brown, but he took her to what he describes as a “toffee” shade. From there, it was all about his signature chunking technique. “I went in and put the highlight chunks in three foils around the front of her face, and then two underneath for when she wore her hair up.”