Who was better-looking: Princess Diana or Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy?

This should've been a poll.

You need help OP

Carolyn. Spritely little undercover bad girl. Had a knack for aesthetics. Probably not made for relationships, though. A woman-child.

Wow.

That's like asking "Which is more bland: blancmange or vanilla junket?"

Both

I pick CBK, too. Am currently visiting my brother and his friends and asked them. They didn't know who the latter was and couldn't remember what the former looked like, so I had to Google some images for them. At any rate, they all agreed that CBK was hotter. One said Diana was too masculine for his tastes.

Di had quite the schnoz on her.

Princess Diana. It's not even a contest.

CBK was scrawny, her face was gaunt and her eyes were popping out of her head. I never thought she was attractive. When John John chose her i remember me and all my friends saying... "WHAT?"

To me, they are what women find attractive in other women. I’ve never heard a man in my life say they’d fuck Diana or Carolyn. They are women my mother and grandmother thought were beautiful, and Jackie-O too.

Even after the nose job, CBK STILL had a huge honker! Gross!

Wow. It never occured to me that they actually look alike. I always thought that they were both chic and elegant rather than beautiful. Though obviously they were attractive.

Carolyn is WAY prettier than Diana. Ain't even close. Take away the glamor, and your left with one unattractive, big-nosed, over-tall dork of a Diana.

Who had the better nose?

CBK had elegant features. She was a dream to photograph. That 90s, heroin chic, gaunt "I've eaten nothing for the last twenty years" hollow dead behind the eyes look that you either have or don't have; you can't cultivate it. Zero personality,

Diana hands down.

Both

R13 CBK was ghoulish! Diane at least looked human.

I think both women are only slightly above average looking.

I'd pick Diana because she had a warmer personality. The other one seemed haughty. I don't like haughty.

[quote]I’ve never heard a man in my life say they’d fuck Diana

Well, if he counts as a man...

R18, why do you think she was haughty? Just wondering.

Madonna is prettier than both

So do we think CBK would still be in the spotlight by now? Like would she have married another famous guy after her and JFK divorced or would she just quietly retire to Connecticut?

R22, she would have married Donald Trump

R20, I am not R18, but CBK reeked of an "I'm better than you" vibe. Haughty sounds about right to me.

CBK wasn’t pretty but she was chic. Before she went from slim to gaunt and bleached her hair she was actually quite sexy.

Americans can’t accept that sticking with the face that nature gave you is normal.

[quote]I’ve never heard a man in my life say they’d fuck Diana

You need to get out of gay bars more.

Straight men were all mad about her, especially if they got to meet her in person.

Americans seem to confuse "pretty" and "beautiful" a lot. Pretty is what high school girls aspire to.

R27, what do you mean by your last paragraph? Just wondering.

Beautiful women are not those with perfectly regular features, perfect teeth, and a perky personality. Those are the pretty cheerleader types who peak in their teens or early 20s.

Beautiful women are intriguing, so they can remain beautiful at least into their forties and sometimes beyond (especially if they don't go overboard with the plastic surgery). They can have "funny" faces, a la Audrey Hepburn, and usually have irregularities or peculiarities that help to make them striking. Julia Roberts's mouth is way too big for prettiness, but it gave her a megawatt smile that just stopped people in their tracks. The young Lauren Bacall was all about those unusual eyes.

The great beauties also have allure: a mysterious or seductive personality that they emit without having to say anything. Jackie Kennedy is a great example: face nothing at all to write home about if you viewed it feature by feature, but there was something about her that made people unable to take their eyes off her. Ava Gardner did have fairly regular features but she wasn't "a pretty girl", because the personality she projected without even speaking was full of R-rated promises, and it was that which made her one of the great Hollywood beauties. Catherine Deneuve was extremely, classically pretty when young, but has become more beautiful with age because experience has given her a depth that, for example, another very pretty girl, Christie Brinkley, has never managed to project.

I hope you can see what I mean.

R29/ R27 Very well said. Pretty is common, but beautiful is rare.

Bitches stole my act.

R29, well said. What do you think of Elizabeth Taylor's looks? Just wondering.

That's a hard one. I think she's right on the cusp. She had very regular features and exuded "bland" when young (though the stories of her gay friends suggest she had a depth of warmth that didn't come across onscreen). She became a much more interesting person as she aged, but then her looks didn't age well. That should put her in the Pretty camp, except that she did have extraordinary eyes and coloring. I think it would depend how much allure she had for you personally when she was young, which adjective you'd apply.

Vivien Leigh had a similar story looks-wise, but the febrile intensity of her personality was very unusual in a girl with such looks and thus intriguing, so I'd call her a beauty before she lost her looks. Possibly the drugs she had to take doused her affect and contributed in that way to her decline as a beauty. (You've only got to watch the screen tests of all those other pretty Hollywood starlets declaring their love for Ashley to see the difference I'm talking about. They all look like they're acting.)

R33, something I was surprised by was the way she looked in GWTW as compared to the 1960s. She was good friends with Noel Coward and he mentions her a lot in his diaries. There aren't any pics in his diaries so I always envisioned her from GWTW. When I saw the later pics I was taken aback by how little she resembled her younger self.

What drugs did she have to take and for what condition? She absolutely destroyed relationships and alienated most people who got close to her.

Carolyn probably looked like a monster when she woke up with no makeup and a hangover. Diana would have looked sweet and tousled. And the idea than Diana had no sex appeal is ludicrous. She had big boobs in an era when implants were not the norm and fantastic legs.

R29 I would put Liz Taylor solidly in the "pretty" camp. There was nothing extraordinary about her looks. She was certainly above average in her looks but given her short stature and standard features, she was pretty basic for Hollywood. As R33 stated, she had those pretty violet eyes, but many actress in Hollywood at that time had pretty eyes. Vivien Leigh was similar in appearance, but of course she had that 25 inch waist! They were both very pretty!

Where Liz stood out was that she was an AMAZING Actress with charisma and a great humanitarian. A lot was projected on her for those reasons. She had been in the game since she was a child and had a lot of natural ability. I never looked at her and saw a stunningly beautiful woman. But she had star power - the IT factor which kept her popular her entire life. That is why heavy or slim, people always LOVED Liz Taylor.

Anna

Both facially homely women who made themselves interesting looking - tho Bessette did better turning herself into the typical waspish looking bleached out waif so popular among wealthy men. The best I would say about both is that they could present as handsome women.

Madonna

I thought we did this thread a while back? I don't believe there was a clear decision.

And they think I look like a horse?

Their faces kind of hit a wall at the end, didn’t they? Looks wise, they both seemed to have crashed very young…….

Neither. Both have noses that are too long.

Anyone think they lookalike?

Madonna

Lady Caroline Lamb

Diana. She looked healthy most of the time and had great eyes. CBK was Calvin Klein bland, best photographed in black and white.

Diana was vibrant. CBK was pallid.

Diana hands down. I read a description from someone who saw her in person and said she was gorgeous.

For sheer meanness alone, CBK loses

They were kind of similar-looking. Not pretty, but attractive. Tall and thin.

Americans are more willing to dye their hair, fix their teeth, get plastic surgery. Carolyn's dyed-blonde hair was a game-changer for her. That, with the red lipstick.

I think they were about equal in the looks department, but CBK had more style. Diana could be frumpy.

They both had big fucking schnozes, but CBK was thinner and had a much better sense of style, so I’ll give her the edge.

Whose nose was better?

They both photographed above their fighting weight. CBK came off as more conventionally glamorous but snotty and bitchy, while Di seemed like a much warmer and more pleasant person -- they may have been equally horrific or wonderful in real life, I'm just going by their photos.

They both had their own signature look.

None

R53 I can always tell when it’s the same weirdo Liz Taylor/Madonna troll posting here.

Who’s prettier? Who has the better nose? “Just wondering.”

R57, it's not the same person

Whose nose looked better?

Diana had a better overall presentation, so looks better, even if Carolyn might be objectively slightly (very slightly) more attractive physically.

R60, why do you think Carolyn was objectively better looking?

[quote][R60], why do you think Carolyn was objectively better looking?

I didn't say that. I said "even if she MIGHT be objectively slightly more attractive..."

This statement concedes that it is possible that some people might find her slightly more attractive, but then returns to the original premise that Diana had a better overall presentation which more than compensates for whatever small edge that a few folks might think Carolyn had based solely on physical appearance.

Said a different way. One would have to believe that Carolyn is vastly more attractive to compensate for Diana's clear edge in overall packaging.

Diana, because her smile dazzled everyone.

Even if she was crazy, there was a genuine kindness in her and it was evident when she smiled.

CBK never possessed this quality.

A lot of men are attracted to the bitchy type, but these types make you absolutely miserable in the end.

Had Diana been paired up with a man who actually loved her, she would have probably been a fantastic partner. That was never gonna happen with CBK. CBK was a raging coke head who would have most likely literally killed John-John, had he not done it first.

Seriously.

So Diana wins simply because she was genuinely sweet, and it was written all over her face.

I wish Diana had considered growing her hair long. She would have won this thread hands down.

Princess Caroline.

Princess Diana for face

Carolyn for style

[quote]A lot of men are attracted to the bitchy type, but these types make you absolutely miserable in the end.

I think both men and women often confuse drama and the emotional turmoil arising from poor treatment as "passion" and love.

Penny on TBBT once said something along the lines of "maybe this is a new kind of love, a new boring kind." She had always dated guys who treated her like crap.

Many people never get past the idea that the drama and turmoil isn't exciting passion, but emotional abuse and unhealthy.

They both had horse faces.

R67, what made them look like horse faces?

^^^ Genetics

CBK was a testament to the power of good hair coloring and a starvation diet. Without either no one would have looked at her twice.

Diana had a magnetic quality even though she wasn’t classically beautiful.

When it was revealed who JFK Jr was dating, most people had a similar reaction to CBK as people would have to Ann when George Michael would introduce her as his girlfriend on Arrested Development: “Her?”

Diana. No contest.

Diana

Both perpetually looked like wild deer caught in headlights. And not in a sweet, endearing way.

Oddly always made me a little a bit nervous just seeing them.

R74, I don't know what you mean

They were both on the high end of average-looking. But pro-makeup boosted them plenty.

CBK. Both were handsome women more than pretty. Diana looked a bit antiquated looking, CBK was more modern looking and better style.

I wonder why people think Diana looked dated....

Can someone explain?

R68 A horse-face is usually a long, narrow face with a long nose.

[quote] I wonder why people think Diana looked dated.... Can someone explain?

The hairstyle. Her clothes were stylish for the Royal family, but not really worldwide. Towards the end she looked more like a modern 90s woman.

It sort of like Kate, clothes are fine, but matronly and out of step with the times. I don’t know anyone else who wears dress coats and that style of hats.

R75, deer freeze when headlights hit them at night. It's why it is illegal to spotlight deer, or shoot/kill them after dark. They are prey animals, and prey animals tend to have those terrified-looking eyes when captured in headlights. If you've ever seen that look, you never forget it.

Like Bessette and Diana.

What were Diana and Carolyn's views on homosexuality?

Were they homophobic?

D had better hair.

Diana was far from homophobic. She helped counter the stigma against people with AIDS by hugging them and speaking closely with them (many were gay men). She also was close with many gay men in the fashion industry, and one of the most famous gay men in the world performed at her funeral.

CBK only worked for a gay man and married one.

Calvin Klein is straight

Princess Diana hands down. Bessette was not a pretty woman. She really had a horseface.

No r9. Not at all. Bessette was not attractive to other women. Most of us saw her and thought, he's dating that??

I have an acquaintance who's always posting pictures of John and Carolyn Kennedy and going on and on in rapture about how perfect they're were and how they're still inspiring style leaders of today. Oh christ! He hates it when I point out that John John killed her.

Bessette’s style does hold up. Her face, not so much.

They both had big, ugly honker noses. Neither.

Fergie

Diana was way better looking, hands down. She had that creamy English rose thing going on in her earlier days that charmed everyone. She was tall and shapely and had big, blue eyes.

CBK was a dessicated, bottle-blonde rabbit. I wasn’t enamored with her style either. While the simplicity was noteworthy, it was dull as fuck and monotonous after a while. She simply fit the zeitgeist of that short window of time. Diana took risks, which only enhanced her aristocratic good looks.

Both

Equal