Weekend: The New Ring Finger 💍

Before there was “quiet luxury” and “stealth wealth,” there was Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy — the minimalist ’90s icon who turned a white button-down into a cultural reset and pioneered the “CBK Headband.” So when Ryan Murphy shared the screen tests from his upcoming series American Love Story — chronicling her whirlwind romance with John F. Kennedy Jr. — fans expected Sarah Pidgeon (the actress playing fashion’s forever muse) to look straight off a Calvin Klein runway. Instead, what they got was something the internet quickly compared to a “low-budget H&M advertisement” (oof). Among the chief complaints: the stiff, “leather” trench (spiritually, it’s giving Shein); the overly cropped pants; and, perhaps most offensive, the Hermès bag filled with 100% air and 0% Kennedy mystique (as one X user lamented, “Couldn’t even stuff the bag”). Then, there’s the hair — too straight, too platinum, and, in the words of Bessette-Kennedy’s own colorist, “totally wrong.”

To be clear, Murphy responded to the backlash — which he called “not fair” — by insisting that Pidgeon wasn’t wearing anything she’ll actually have on in the show. He also assembled a 10-person “style advisory board” to oversee CBK’s wardrobe. But if you’re assuming it’ll all come together by the time cameras roll, (a) that’s very generous of you, and (b) let us present this image. What we do know? The one thing fans haven’t come for is Paul Kelly as JFK Jr. — especially after eagle-eyed sleuths spotted this recreated magazine cover in set photos. Now, if you’re about to Google the man you didn’t know existed five seconds ago, here’s the gist: He’s so new to Hollywood he only has two IMDb credits (not counting American Love Story), he’s a devoted dog dad (this custom shirt proves it), and he’s mastered the art of looking devastatingly pensive — which, honestly, might be 80% of the role. Next up? All eyes are on Naomi Watts as she enters her Camelot era. Fingers crossed the wardrobe department doesn’t fumble the pillbox hat.