No actress could fill her Calvin Klein loafers.
A Boston University classmate of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy told The Post she did not appreciate seeing another woman attempt to play her on screen.
“The first episode, I just thought, ‘Oh my God, this girl is nothing like her,’” Jenny Syquia said of Sarah Pidgeon’s portrayal in “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.”
“But there is nobody like her. So who could actually be her?”
Carolyn Bessette Kennedy was featured on the cover of the 1988 Girls of B.U. calendar. Courtesy of Dawn Klavon
Syquia, 58, who was chosen along with Bessette to be featured in the 1988 Girls of B.U. calendar, got acclimated to Pidgeon’s version in the FX and Hulu miniseries, which airs its finale on March 26.
“The more I watched the show, I liked the actress more. Now that I’m getting more into it, I feel it a little bit more.”
Since there is very little video footage of Bessette, aside from a rare glimpse of her speaking in a 1998 Entertainment Tonight interview, it is virtually impossible to recreate the “insane magnetism” she radiated.
Bessette’s classmate, Jenny Syquia, also posed for the calendar. Courtesy of Dawn Klavon
“She was unforgettable . . . That does not translate in pictures, just this energy she had . . . like this aura, she just glowed,” Syquia said.
“Every time I did see her . . . It sounds weird to say because I don’t think I’ve ever said it about another woman, but like you couldn’t take your eyes off her.
“There’s people with charisma, but not crazy beauty. And then there’s people that have charisma and then beauty, but maybe they’re not nice. But she was all of those things.”
“The first episode, I just thought, ‘Oh my God, this girl is nothing like her,’” Syquia said of Sarah Pidgeon’s “Love Story” portrayal. Eric Liebowitz/FX
A Binghamton, NY native, Syquia was two years below Bessette at college, but the women took similar paths after graduation — both moving to Manhattan to pursue careers in the fashion industry.
Syquia’s role as a fashion assistant to Anna Wintour entailed traveling to the Calvin Klein offices, where she’d run into her former classmate — who always left an impression.
Syquia worked as a fashion assistant at Vogue, so would run into Bessette at the Calvin Klein offices. Courtesy of Jenny Syquia
Syquia now runs a jewelry company. Eric Josjö/WEI
When JFK Jr. entered the “Pools” launch party, “it was like a rush of electricity,” Syquia recalled. Penske Media via Getty Images
“She was so cool. And she was also so nice. Those are kind of the people that become the most popular, the ones that make you feel special. And that’s what she completely did,” said Syquia, a former model, who now lives in Sweden and works as a jewelry designer.
“If you spoke to her, it was like there was nothing else in the universe happening. She was just locked in on you with her gorgeous blue eyes.”
Syquia was also at the launch party for Klein’s wife Kelly’s book, “Pools,” which was featured in the series — and remembers the moment JFK Jr. walked into the room.
“Everybody wanted to get a look at him … They really captured that moment in the series, when he came into that party. It was like a rush of electricity. Because everyone knew he was the world’s most eligible bachelor.”