Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s record-breaking Prada coat never ended up in a celebrity’s closet.
When the late style icon’s camel outerwear sold for $192,000 at auction earlier this month (a world record for clothing she had previously owned), internet commenters immediately began speculating that Kim Kardashian was the buyer.
“I swear to God if Kim K shows up with that,” one person wrote. Some called the purchases “dystopian” and “sick.”
However, Lucy Bishop, the fashion auctioneer who handled the sale, confirmed to Page Six Style that the coat was purchased by a museum, but declined to name the institution. (We contacted several fashion museums to see if they had purchased this piece.)
Kardashian, 45, had a valid guess. The Skims mogul’s penchant for famous clothing and accessories is well documented, as she sold a Cartier watch once owned by Jackie Kennedy Onassis for $379,500 at auction in 2017. She told Vogue that she wore the watch to the White House “because it gave me power.”
In 2022, she famously wore Marilyn Monroe’s “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” gown on the Met Gala red carpet, and the following year she spent $197,453 on Princess Diana’s amethyst and diamond Atala cross necklace at Sotheby’s.
Bishop said the Bessette Kennedy sale has attracted interest from around the world. “It was really a mix of fans and women who love fashion, but also very passionate private collectors, museums and institutions,” she says.
The record-breaking coat is a size 42 double-faced wool Angora style with a faux Prada tortoiseshell buckle and is one of Bessette Kennedy’s most photographed pieces. She was seen wearing it while taking a walk with JFK Jr. in March 1997, and again in October 1998 while out with the couple’s dog, Friday.
The final hammer price was $160,000. Total $192,000 includes buyer’s premium.
Bessette Kennedy originally gave the coat to Rosemary Terenzio, JFK Jr.’s longtime assistant and author of JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography, but later gave it to her friend Michel Ammon, along with a second Prada camel coat. Both coats were commissioned by Ammon.
Terenzio sold two of his suits on consignment. An eggy white Prada coat cost just over $9,000, and a Yohji Yamamoto dress sold for $20,000. Bessette Kennedy wore a Yamamoto dress to an event celebrating the anniversary of the Apollo space program on March 5, 1998.
This was the second time she had parted with items given to her by Bessette Kennedy. She told Page Six Style about the items she no longer wears, hoping others would have a chance to review them. In 2024, she consigned three pieces to Sotheby’s: a black Prada coat, a vintage leopard-print coat, and a Yohji Yamamoto jacket, which were sold to Staud founder Sarah Staudinger for a total of $177,600.
Terenzio donated a portion of both sales to Hearts of Gold, a nonprofit that helps homeless mothers and their children.
Interest in Bessette Kennedy has skyrocketed with FX’s hit series “Love Story,” which became the network’s most-watched limited series in streaming history.
Bishop says the price makes sense in context. “If you were to buy a new Prada wool coat in a store today, prices start at around $5,000,” she points out. And while they lose value the moment you start walking around wearing them, historical items often increase in value over time.
She cites Princess Diana’s market as a benchmark. Ten years ago, the average selling price for Princess Diana’s dresses was about $50,000, but today it’s nearly $1 million.
Only seven authenticated items from Bessette Kennedy’s wardrobe have ever been on the market, all originally gifted to Terenzio, and the rest of the late style muse’s closet, including Narciso Rodriguez’s wedding dress that reshaped the bridal industry, has never made it into the world.
Estate law notes that CBK’s only living sister, Lisa Bessette, may be the custodian of her wardrobe, but she lives a private life and has never discussed her inheritance.
In contrast, Jackie Kennedy’s wardrobe, including the ivory Valentino dress she wore to marry Aristotle Onassis in 1968, is widely on display.
“I hope that a major museum will host an exhibition about Carolyn Bessette Kennedy,” Bishop says. “I think that’s great.”
Prior to the auction, she held a two-day exhibition in Chelsea, where the audience was multigenerational. Bessette Kennedy’s female contemporaries in the 1990s brought their daughters to see the work.
“Women all over the world are still fascinated by her and adore her,” Bishop says.
