Barry, Nathan, and a friendMaddy Rotman
Barry informed me that the winner of the competition wore Rollerblades—a nice nod to the actual Kennedy, who was frequently papped blading around Tribeca. But that mysterious man was gone by the time I arrived, blading into the sunset with his grand prize of $250 and a new pickup line—“You know, I won a JFK Jr. look-alike contest.”
Maybe he’ll use it next Saturday when he goes barhopping in the West Village, in search of his Carolyn. There were plenty of Bessette imitators in the crowd, including Jen Humis and Delaney Driscoll, who said they came to the event looking to bag a JFK Jr. of their very own. “We’re here outsourcing, on the scene, taking a look around,” joked Humis. “Boots on the ground.” Unfortunately, their boots were late; they missed the competition because they were too busy drinking a pitcher of mimosas to arrive on time. “We saw a few,” Driscoll said of the competitors. “It was a flop, but whatever.”
Jen Humis and Delaney DriscollMaddy Rotman
Carolyn’s influence on the women of the West Village is so strong that some of them weren’t even aware that they were dressed like her. “I don’t know her, guys. I’m sorry,” said one apparent acolyte named Clarice—wearing a headscarf, a black sweater, a nude knee-length skirt, and sunglasses. “I just had a bad hair day. I put a scarf on to get rid of that.” But Clarice’s friend Abby was very familiar with Bessette: “She’s classy, elegant, icon, queen, timeless.” One woman who asked to remain nameless elected not to have her photo taken because her boyfriend didn’t know she was at the event “surrounded by hot guys.”
