The hit 90’s show Sex and The City has claimed a new generation of fans as it has resurfaced on the major streaming services. The show which features a fearsome foursome of New York City women, has captured the hearts of millions of Gen Z girls in addition to all of its pre-established fan base. But with the surge in popularity in the new decade, the show’s elements take on a new level. Now, Carrie’s fashion is no longer so outlandish, and girls can feasibly create their own Carrie Bradshaw wardrobe. But what if Carrie’s classics aren’t your style? What if you’re more Soho Princess like Charlotte? Or what if you have no clue? Don’t worry. Let’s take a deep dive into the fashion of some of TV’s favorite women and find out why their style makes them even more loveable and relatable.
via Paramount Pictures
Before we begin our fashion analysis, let’s do a quick geography lesson. New York City is divided into 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. In each borough, you have your neighborhoods like the Upper East Side, Greenwich Village, The Financial and Meatpacking District, etc. This is where we find our Sex and the City ladies. Each of the women are physical embodiments of a neighborhood and that is reflected in the outfits they wear. Let’s start with the one and only:
Carrie Bradshaw
Carrie is the most creative out of the group with her fashion choices, many of her outfits, often, surround her shoes. There has been a lot of discourse over the years on whether Carrie’s outfits are actually fashion, or just a whole lot going on. But what people fail to realize is that Carrie is a product of her environment. Our favorite journalist is representing her neighborhood, Greenwich Village, specifically, the West Village. The Village is known for its creative and artsy fashion that nods to the past. It features avant-garde pieces that have the faint whisper of nostalgia in the detailing. Carrie’s closet consists of many bright colors and textures that she often pairs with a bright shoe. A staple outfit of Bradshaw’s is a mini skirt or dress with some sort of textured outer layer and a fabulous pair of shoes, 9 times out of 10 they’re Manolo Blaniks. In creating this wardrobe equation, she is creating an homage to her home. The classic mini dress is reminiscent of when women’s uniforms were strictly dresses, while the textured outerwear and shoes modernize the outfit.
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Charlotte York
Time for Charlotte, our Park Avenue Princess. Charlotte York grew up in prim and proper Connecticut so there was no way that her style wasn’t going to carry over when she moved to The Upper East Side. If you are unfamiliar, the Upper East Side is the hub of luxury and sophistication, with SoHo coming in as a close second. It is also home to another television fashion icon Serena Vanderwoodsen from Gossip Girl. The fashion in this neighborhood is exactly what you would expect, expensive, preppy, and elegant. This translates directly into York’s style as we see her often in very tailored and classic pieces. Her wardrobe go-to’s are often a beautifully structured jacket and a flowy midi skirt. It allows her to combine the charm of New York and Connecticut all in one, while still appealing to the roots that both places have in old money. Now, we won’t say that all of Miss York’s outfits are straight and narrow, she does feature some beautiful, colorful dresses and skirts. However, oftentimes, her more casual looks are executed through tennis wear which is another staple of old money in both her current neighborhood as well as her former.
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Miranda Hobbes
Much like her Upper East Side gal pal, lawyer Miranda Hobbes was one for a good tailored piece. While she moved to Brooklyn later in the series, Miranda was our girl in the Financial District. While it was never specified where exactly Hobbes lived before Brooklyn, her outfits are the embodiment of FiDi. FiDi, by nature, is all corporate and normally, very bland, especially when you take into account it’s predominant uniform of a tailored suit. Miranda brings a little life to the district by wearing pantsuits and tailored dresses allowing her femininity to establish itself. She frequents colored turtlenecks and jackets and allows some of her casual style to influence her work attire. The beautiful thing about Miranda and her styling is that she doesn’t allow femininity, either in her clothes or personality, to be a hindrance in getting to where she wants to go. She rocks every occasion as if it is a chance to network and promote herself and uses her feminine strengths to her advantage. She showed the world how to balance being a mother as well as a high-power lawyer, and allowed her style to teeter between the relaxed and the structured.
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Samantha Jones
Last and certainly never least, we have Samantha Jones. Aside from being a PR tycoon, Jones is known for her brightly colored, slinky, and sexy dresses.
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While she initially lived in the Upper East Side, Sam moved to the Meat Packing District and her wardrobe shows it. While she can wear her business-appropriate suits and dresses, Jones is most herself when capitalizing on the cutting-edge and luxurious nature of the Meatpacking District. Although the name is not the most glamorous, the district itself is full of nightlife and high-end lines and that is the summation of Samantha. Blending the lines between professionalism and fun, Jones is constantly wearing statement piece jewelry with her low-cut dresses and heels all while maintaining her level-headed and determined mindset. A key part of Samantha’s fashion is her attitude. A major reason why her outfits always seem so perfect for her is because she has the personality to fill them. Our PR girl does not wear easy pieces for an everyday person to pull off but the reason they look so effortless on her is because she makes you believe that they were designed for her.
Now to say that we can capture and describe every ensemble in this show would be a lie. Obviously, each of our leading ladies’ outfits isn’t as simple as black and white, and often they even dip into one of the other girls’ wheelhouse. But the beauty in the show is that the costuming not only connects the characters to the city but it connects real-life people of the city to the show. The styling of the foursome allows for real people to see themselves and where they live reflected in the media and that is ultimately what fashion should be all about. Allowing people to be and feel seen in everything that they do and consume.
By Abigail Moynihan