After 20 Years of CBK Inspo, Lee Radziwill Is My Forever Style Icon

Monica Ainley is a Who What Wear UK Editor in Residence and a Paris-based fashion and culture writer and broadcaster. She is the co-creator of the influential Fashion: No Filter podcast and the culture podcast Fanfare. Monica also authors Mon Review, a weekly dispatch on aesthetics, literature and contemporary rituals.

I’ve gotta be honest: my style has secretly been informed—I mean, cut out a magazine and tape it on the wall-level informed, by Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy for the better part of twenty years. Probably my mum’s too, come to think of it.

Not secretly, actually; if you’d asked, I’d have said CBK’s the best person to picture when you’re running late and don’t know what to wear. And it’s not like I think I’m cooler than the Gen Z crowd currently “discovering” her. I’m just older! And so is my mum.

It is kind of annoying when everyone catches onto something you feel is lowkey yours, though, right? Even if you had no particular claim on it to begin with. Like… I dunno, Substack… or the Brontes. Suddenly, you're as basic as anyone. But you know who I’ve recently taken up for casual outfit-inspiration purposes? Lee Radziwill. Who? Carolyn’s aunt-in-law. What? Jackie Kennedy’s sister. Yes, exactly, her. Or, if you watch Bravo: Carole Radziwill’s mother-in-law.

Of course, this is not exactly a left-field, unheard-of style reference either. Lee Radziwill was an American socialite, PR executive and basically the lifelong fashion influencer before influencers were a thing. She moved in rarified international circles, eventually marrying Polish aristocrat Prince Stanislaw Radziwill. But what she was most known for, over the course of her whole life, was her reputation for exquisite taste –both on her person and in her apartments; she had one helluva eye for interiors too. Lee’s imprint on 20th-century style is undeniable.

And yes, Love Story fans will perhaps have noted that Lee is mentioned in Ryan Murphy’s series, but not actually shown. Which I think was a big mistake on the show’s part, given its main flex was aesthetics. Also, though Lee lived to be 85, she sadly did not escape the Kennedy curse, which, if you understand the family tree, you may have noted while watching the show. Lee’s son Anthony (JFK Jr’s cousin and BFF) died tragically of cancer at 40, just a month after the crash that killed John and Carolyn.

Anyway, let's go back to happier times and great fashion. I’m not saying Lee’s style was better than Carolyn’s –apples and oranges– but it was broader, simply because she lived a lot longer. CBK’s legacy is tragically frozen in time; Radizwill’s, we can watch evolve over many decades. At a certain point, you need outfit inspo that will age with you.

What’s compelling about Lee Radziwill is that she lived her life in parallel to her sister, not in her shadow. They were reportedly close, though quite competitive (I’m recommending the wardrobe, not necessarily the personality; but we never really know what goes on behind the scenes, do we?) Still, I am definitely of the opinion that Lee’s style, when we look back at it, feels more…daring. Jackie Kennedy Onassis perfected a specific kind of polish –especially from the 70s to the 90s– but Lee’s life gave her more room to experiment, and she did.

She showed up: to fashion week, to dinners, to FUN parties –well into her later life. I remember working at a fashion office in my early twenties and my bosses whispering to each other that the Lee Radziwill was going to attend this or that show and positively quivering in excitement. Lee was even spotted having fab tete-a-tete dinners at Le Voltaire in Paris up until her very last days, which is definitely a goal.

Her style felt effortless, but in reality, it must have been considered. She wore clean lines, exceptionally well-blended palettes with the occasional bold colour, plus had a knack for making even the most luxurious of fabrics look, well, casual. She was often dressed by Giorgio Armani and Yves Saint Laurent, but never looked like she belonged to any designer but herself. And that, my friends, is the key.

Armani once said that her chic was “never forced,” and Diana Vreeland defined Lee’s kind of elegance as “refusal” –as in, knowing what not to wear. While Jackie leaned toward overt glamour, and Carolyn, strict 90s minimalism (let’s be clear on who invented “quiet luxury"), Lee’s version had more joie-de-vivre than Carolyn’s, and was, often, just cooler than Jackie’s. I mean, those jackets!! That kind of confidence, the truly discerning kind, is the sort that is acquired over a long, colourful life, and it is exactly how I want to dress going forward. Especially when I’m, like, really old.

Though I’ll still be wearing my CBK-inspired vintage Levi’s 517s. Obviously.

Shop Lee Radziwill's Look