Three Bedrooms, One City: Step Inside Love Story’s ‘90s New York
From the minimalism of JFK Jr.’s Tribeca loft to the uptown tradition of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ Fifth Avenue home, three bedrooms in 'Love Story' reveal the luxury interiors of ‘90s New York.
There’s been an unfathomable amount of content and discourse surrounding the new Ryan Murphy-produced FX show Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. Other than the tragic love story at its heart, most of it has been centred on the sartorial styling – the show takes place during a very specific era of the ‘90s, and chronicles a very aesthetically specific couple. This is particularly the case when it comes to Carolyn, who first encountered JFK Jr. during her tenure as a publicist at Calvin Klein.
Yes, the fashion analysis takes plenty of the show’s spotlight (and with good reason – did we mention the headbands, the slip dresses, the coats?), but we’d argue the show’s most transportive time machine isn’t the fashion; it’s the private rooms – the places where the public story gets put down for the night.
Across three distinct bedrooms – Carolyn’s, JFK Jr.’s and Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ – the show sketches a version of ‘90s New York that feels real and tactile: downtown restraint, uptown refinement, and a city that still felt analogue, messy, capable of letting a person disappear for a few hours. Production designer Alex DiGerlando and set decorator Lydia Marks have talked about building these worlds as contrasts that still “speak” to one another – a dialogue between old guard tradition and Tribeca modernism, and a controlled, Calvin Klein–coded neutrality that threads through the story even when the characters never meet.
What’s striking is how much character gets revealed not through what’s added, but through what’s edited.
Below: three bedrooms, three moods – and how to translate each into your own space without turning your room into a television set.
Carolyn’s lived-in apartment
We’re invited into Carolyn’s one-bedroom apartment almost immediately in the season. And if it offers any insight into her character, it’s this: an effortless ease, a lack of polish (but not undesirability), and a penchant for pale terracotta hued bedding. Viewers watched Carolyn throw on pieces of clothing from the floor around her and depart for the office with unbrushed hair and still appear completely put together. Her interiors echo this same energy – you’ll notice that nothing feels overly styled or deliberately arranged, yet every element seems to land exactly where it should. The palette is soft and understated, and the textures are relaxed rather than pristine.
Bring it home
Lead with an “almost-neutral"
Keep the bed base in soft, washed tones (peach, blush, oat, warm white) so it reads calm, not styled. The goal is that thrown-together-but-perfect thing her outfits do.
Make it look slept-in on purpose
Skip hospital corners. Loosen the top sheet, let the quilt slump a little, embrace a slightly rumpled linen texture – like you got dressed in a hurry and still somehow nailed it.
Layer like you didn’t think about it
One base + one easy layer is enough: sheets + quilt, or sheets + light blanket. If you add a third piece, keep it simple (a throw at the foot) and let it look casually placed, not “arranged.”
Let the room hold a little life
Think: a chair with a coat on it; a book half-open; a glass of water. Not clutter per se, just evidence of a person living and moving through the space. Your room shouldn’t necessarily feel finished; it should feel inhabited, like a story which keeps adding chapters each week.
JFK Jr.’s minimalist loft
JFK Jr.’s Tribeca loft is the show’s love letter to downtown architecture: big volume, industrial bones, and a distinctive brand of ‘90s “cool” that’s half taste, half sheer square footage. For his infamous loft and its open-plan bedroom, production leaned into period materials and silhouettes – concrete, stainless, glass block – and reimagined the space on a soundstage while keeping key real-world references (including the building itself on North Moore Street).
There’s also something boyish in it (even when it’s made more polished for TV): a room that feels lived in, not styled to within an inch of its life.
Bring it home
Go tonal, then add contrast with structure
Think grey-on-grey or white-on-stone for the bed, then introduce “loft energy” with sharp lines: a tailored pillow arrangement, a simple bedcover fold, a clean bedside silhouette.
Choose one industrial note
Chrome, steel, concrete, glass. Just one! (The moment you collect a set of industrial cues, it turns themed.)
Embrace negative space
This is the bedroom where the best styling tip is: remove one thing. Let the room breathe.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ uptown legacy
Then there’s Jackie’s Fifth Avenue apartment: the uptown counterpoint. DiGerlando has described Jackie’s world as one rooted in tradition – panelled walls and layered textiles – with the show intentionally dialing down contrast so it still harmonises with the series’ overall tonal restraint. The design team referenced archival material and Sotheby’s estate imagery as a guide, aiming for something that felt true to Jackie without reproducing it like a museum room.
This bedroom isn’t about minimalism. It’s about legacy and inheritance: The comfort (and weight) of objects that have been kept.
Bring it home
Layer neutrals the old-fashioned way
Instead of one flat beige, build warmth through variations: oat, cream, sand, antique white. The room should feel lit by lamplight even in the day.
Pattern belongs here – but keep it in the same family
Traditional doesn’t need to mean loud. A delicate floral, a stripe, a subtle damask-adjacent motif can feel “Jackie” without veering into busy.
Add one “kept” thing
A vintage tray, a framed print, an inherited bedside lamp. The point is history – real or imagined.
Channel '90s Interiors
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