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FX’s hit series Love Story has actually provided JFK Jr. brand-new life as a style icon. Max Berlinger, composing for GQ, argued that the program is “the most prominent menswear program because Mad Men,” going on to describe that the drama plays well to existing patterns, as Jr’s design “crystallized menswear’s obsessions du jour with prep, ‘old cash style,’ and fawning over the 1990s.” As a guy myself, it is hard to enjoy the show without questioning if I might pull off the looks that Jr. did, specifically the profane method he wore designer matches, pairing them with backward hats and chain wallets. Above all, Jr.’s style highlighted a quality of ease, even a captivating aloofness. You got the sense that there was no place that he would feel out of place.
In basic, the Kennedy mystique is tied up with that peculiar Americana visual that is often called preparation or Ivy. Core to the appeal of this look is an absence of fussiness. If you attempt too hard to look or seem like American royalty, as Jay Gatsby did, individuals translucent it and react with suspicion– or disgust, as was the case with Richard Nixon. Throughout the nation’s first-ever televised governmental dispute, Nixon suffered badly by being positioned onstage next to the tanned and delicately regal JFK Sr. The country had known Nixon for many years as Eisenhower’s vice president, however never ever before did it observe how deeply insecure he was with himself. Some state this debate won Kennedy the presidency.
There is something paradoxical about the “old money design,” which requires you both look great and not let on that you care how you look. Like all aspirational visual appeals, it is, by design, difficult. And yet there are those who pull it off– not just in fashion, however in architecture and interior design.
Architecturally, the Kennedy name typically stimulates something beachy, like a Dutch colonial home with cedar shingles perched on a windy hill in Cape Cod. The Kennedys’ storied Kennebunkport Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, consists of 6 houses that approximately fit this expense, although they have standard white siding, not cedar shingles. (An embarassment).
Nevertheless, it should be noted that these are historic homes. If one were to emulate the Kennedy design in a new build, just recreating these types of structures would not work. It would feel forced, as if JFK Jr. dressed exactly like his father had, slim tie and all. Really nailing the Kennedy visual in 2026 requires holding timeless American style lightly, mixing in modern aspects when they are required, like matching a backwards Kangol with an Armani suit. Here are a couple of jobs that get it right.
Marlboro Reich Music Hall
By HGA, Marlboro, Vermont
Jury Winner, College & Research Study Facilities, 13th Architizer A+A wards
The Kennedys are known customers of college and the fine arts, specifically classical music. Reich Hall integrates traditional New England architectural themes with a deep cultural function, serving as the online forum for an essential music festival that has actually been running every summer because 1951.
“The style for Reich Hall was inspired by a Cape Cod cottage– a 400-year-old typology derived from 17th-century English inhabitants’ houses in New England and the main motivation for Marlboro College’s centuries-old buildings,” explains HGA. While Marlboro College is sadly defunct, the extension of the Marlboro Music Festival in this extraordinary place permits its memory to reside on.
Studio Whitehorse
By Joe Fischer Designer, Plymouth, Massachusetts
The very first job here is the most modest: a “meditation area and music studio space over a partially-buried two-car garage.” My preferred aspect of this job is the method it works with the landscape, although the landscape is simple. From the side entryway, one gets in directly into the upstairs area through a discreet passage. It is just from the front that the real height of the building, which is developed into a hill, can be seen.
Visually, this structure advises me of really old New England– like the clapboard houses in Salem that showed the simple tastes of the Puritans. Like the Puritans’ houses, this studio has high gables and modestly sized windows. Unlike 17th century homes, this one is fortified versus the elements with triple-glazed windows and advanced insulation. The ecological specifications here are remarkable, as the home meets the North American Passive Home standard for energy effectiveness. And this is not to point out the incomparable appeal of raw cedar shingles.
House on Droop Harbor
By 1100 Architect, Sag Harbor, New York City
Jaclyn Kennedy Onassis invested her childhood summer seasons way out east on Long Island, in an Easthampton estate called Wildmoor– best near the town line with Droop Harbor. Built in 1865 and featuring– yes– raw cedar shingles, Wildmoor is the epitome of the Old Money East Coast design the Kennedys are well-known for.
1100 Designer’s Home on Sag Harbor does not go for this historic look, however its understated elegance is really Kennedyesque. Jackie, who raised horses and supervise a horse farm in New Jersey throughout her adult life, would especially appreciate the way this job’s percentages nod to barn architecture. I love the method the very same weatherized lumber cladding is utilized for both the roofing and the facade, offering a quiet sense of unity.
5 Gables
By Ziger|Snead Architects, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Like the previous task in this collection, Five Gables is influenced by barn architecture. This substance is located in Lancaster, PA, so not a recognized stomping ground of the Kennedys, but still a historic slice of the mid-Atlantic region. This project, which consists of five separate structures adjoined by subtle pathways, is actually a household substance not unlike the Kennedys’ own in Hyannis Port. Nevertheless, the impression this produces is absolutely nothing like a grand estate. The buildings circulation together, and they harmonize their context, on the edge of a golf club. Cathedral ceilings and large skylights bring drama to the interior spaces– but never ever too much.
Long Dune Residence
By Hammer Architects, Truro, Massachusetts
This, the final project consisted of in this collection, is the only one that does not feature angled roofs or other nods to the shape of timeless American architecture. Nevertheless, Long Dune Residence is Kennedyesque, as every detail was made with caring factor to consider for the landscape of eastern Massachusetts.
“Perched on a coastal bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, this brand-new residence is created to in addition pay for views of the Pamet River and a freshwater pond,” explains Hammer Architects. “Little is revealed until entering the house through a tall glass door that emerges as one approaches the house. As soon as within, the living and dining rooms, which inhabit the structure’s center, open to the remarkable water views through a floor-to-ceiling glass wall that features large moving doors linking to a multi-level outdoor deck.”
Certainly, the effort that was required to maximize ocean views would interest JFK Sr., specifically, who was an avid sailor. While the design of this structure is clearly modern-day, its usage of natural products and reverence for its context make it an ideal addition to the collection. I can think of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette staying here to prevent the paparazzi. Jr. famously enabled himself to smoke one cigarette daily, and it is easy to imagine him enjoying it contemplatively while walking through the slate path in the front garden.
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Cover Image: Interior view of Long Dune House, showcasing the ocean view.