Decorating & Design
Inside Love Story’s Distinct Decorating Styles
Updated on March 23, 2026
Ryan Murphy’s buzzy new FX series Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette (now streaming on Hulu on Disney+ in Canada) has launched itself firmly into the cultural zeitgeist, spurring fresh examinations of Carolyn’s timeless fashion style and glamourizing ’90s aesthetics for a new generation. Since its February 2026 launch, viewers have streamed Love Story for more than 25 million hours, making it FX’s most-watched limited series on Hulu and Disney+.
The Ryan Murphy series has sparked controversy, as well as spawning endless memes and Instagram posts, and igniting the careers of the stars Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon, who play the titular roles. The series’ sets recreate the distinctive decorating styles of the era: JFK Jr.’s gritty Tribeca loft and the hip, Quiet Luxury Calvin Klein offices where Carolyn worked, versus the lush, old money enclave of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ Fifth Avenue digs (replete with floral chintz, oil paintings, and antiques), and the Kennedy familys’ famous seaside retreat, Hyannis Port.
Scroll through to see how the set design helps define the characters, and offers a window into the distinctive style of two of the most famous members of the Kennedy clan.
Designer Calvin Klein was nicknamed Mr. Clean by WWD, and the NYC headquarters where Carolyn worked as a publicist mirrors his pared-back aesthetic. The space is full of iconic designs, like the tubular steel Mies van der Rohe chairs. Designer Joe D’Urso designed most of Klein’s offices including the round marble table with chrome legs and wheels. Joe informed Calvin’s signature crisp, restrained modernism, which relies on a strictly curated black, gray and white palette, seen in the photography, dark steel bookshelves, and sleek chairs. The black floor lamp is vintage industrial Fortuny.
Canadian actor Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon play the main characters and are pictured on a boxy, low-slung wood frame sofa with white upholstery in Love Story’s recreation of JFK Jr.’s apartment. The show’s popularity has had a huge ripple effect, with TikTok reporting that searches for both JFK Jr. and Bessette grew by over 9100% in the last month, with the hashtag #lovestory generating more than 21 million posts globally. C.O. Bigelow, the store that sells the faux tortoiseshell headband favoured by Carolyn, has sold the most accessories in its 188-year history, according to Bloomberg. And Panna II, the East Village Indian restaurant where the couple have their first date in the series, experienced a 40% surge in reservations.
Very few photos exist of JFK Jr.’s huge Tribeca loft, located on the top floor of a 1921 warehouse on North Moore Street, so Emmy-award nominated production designer Alex Di Gerlando and set decorator Lydia Marks had to imagine the fratty style of his loft. High ceilings, cast iron pillars and minimalist furniture typified the mania for industrial-style converted lofts in the ’90s. Other sought after features of the era include open layouts, track lighting, glass-brick walls, long, bare tables, exposed brick, and a restaurant-style kitchen.
In sharp contrast to Love Story’s lofts is the imagined Upper East Side apartment of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Horseback riding was one of Jackie’s passions and her apartment was filled with horse figurines and equestrian portraits, as seen by the portrait over the roaring fire. Her palatial 5,382-square-foot apartment at 1040 Fifth Avenue encompassed the entire 15th floor of the 1930’s Rosia Candela Building. A fan of architecture and design, she enjoyed decorating with a long list of decorators (including Albert Hadley, Mark Hampton and Sister Parish). In this intimate dining area that overlooked Central Park and the MET Museum, the table is draped in a floral tablecloth, with a soft tribal rug underneath and Chinoiserie porcelain planters hold wood near the fireplace. To make the set as accurate as possible, set designer Alex Di Gerlando reviewed images from Jackie’s 1996 Sotheby’s estate sale catalogue, which detailed photos of her furniture and mementos, plus archival photography of the apartment.
The library is a testament to Jackie’s role as a senior book editor with floor-to-ceiling bookcases, accented by a horse painted in an ormulu frame. The skirted loveseat is upholstered in a Schumacher stripe and black lacquered grand piano sits on a polished herringbone floors. The effect is feminine and cultured, a reflection of Jackie’s worldly interests in art, literature and music, as well as her impeccable taste. Jackie was assured in her use of contrasting patterns (at one point the original apartment had red drapes, red damask wallpaper, and large-scale floral upholstery,) but the set designers dialed back the mix so the focus was kept on the actors in the scenes.
The series recreates the iconic three-property Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port with a waterfront house with a great sweeping lawn in Bellport, Long Island. Modern wallpaper was replaced with floral prints and family photos depicting the actors capture a preppy, Old school vibe. The original dining room was actually much smaller, so this dining room was built on a sound stage to accommodate all the actors in the scene.
In episode 5 of the series, actress Sarah Pidgeon comes down to breakfast to learn Carolyn’s name is conspicuously absent on the chalkboard that helps organize the large family’s meals. The goal was to make the house looked lived in, with stacks of beach towels on a wicker chairs and familial touches, like the no-nonsense chalkboard.
Courtesy of FX Networks and Disney+. ©2025 FX Productions, LLC