American Love Story creator Ryan Murphy is sweating a little bit after his well-intentioned first look at stars Paul Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon as John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette went awry.

There were immediate hot takes on TikTok and in publications like The Cut, noting that the style icon would never walk out the door looking like “Mango and Zara” instead of “the understated, tailored, and soft-yet-structured Calvin Klein, Prada, and Yohji Yamamoto garments” that the late fashionista favored.Well, Murphy is now pushing back on the “inflammatory” criticism to Variety — and he has an explanation that might quell some of the fashion fears.

The showrunner wants people to understand that this was not a part of the actors’ official wardrobe — the outfits were pulled together from whatever was available for the coloring and lighting tests.

“There were comments like, ‘I hate that coat, Carolyn would never have worn that,’” he told the media outlet. “That was just a coat we threw on for color. People were writing, ‘How dare you use the No. 35 Birkin bag? She wore a 40!’ Yes, we have a 40 but we just threw on a bag from another costume department because that was the sound stage we were on.”

Behind the scenes, there is a 10-member “style advisory board” to make sure Bessette’s wardrobe is exactly replicated or pulled from the archives. The wardrobe department was even able to source some of her original clothing, including her shoes and handbags. Hopefully, those items will help capture Bessette’s essence that ushered in an eraof the chic Manhattan blonde shade and skinny brows.

“Long blonde hair, an iconic red lip, and effortless style—all signatures of fashion icon Carolyn Bessette Kennedy,” Sunita Kumar Nair’s book, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion, noted, “Carolyn used fashion as her medium. She hadn’t found her voice yet in front of the camera as Mrs. Kennedy, so she let her fashion speak to the world for her. With her attention to detail, strict color palette, and unique, unidentifiable looks with the brand labels deliberately removed, she was the essence of class—no label would ever define her.”

Murphy knows he has a mountain to climb with Vogue entering the chat with Bessette’s former colorist Brad Johns. He was not pleased with Pidgeon’s hair color. “No one would believe that Carolyn in the ’90s would ever have that color from me. It’s too 2024,” he told them without knowing that the actress was wearing a wig.

It sounds like it’s a major lesson learned though. Murphy summed up to Variety. “If I ever do something like that again, I have to put a warning label on the top of the caption, explaining to people what the process is,” he said. “…I made a mistake, and I’ve learned from it.”

Before you go, click to see all the best pictures of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.