With the premiere of the next instalment of And Just Like That now just around the corner, the return of Ms Bradshaw and co is a topic of near-constant conversation in Vogue House. While we wait to see what, exactly, Michael Patrick King has in store for us in season two, the Vogue editors rounded up their favourite looks from Carrie’s Sex and the City era, below.
Kerry McDermott, Digital Director
Carrie’s fictional walk-in is home to plenty of things I’ve fantasised about wearing myself, but it feels more appropriate here to eulogise an outfit that only she could truly get away with. I’m one of at least three girls in the British Vogue office who would cite her colour-clashing capri pants/backwards Chanel blouse/bandana ensemble from season three, episode 15 – which finds our heroine regressing back to her high school days, whiling away a New York heat wave smoking weed and having water fights at her boyfriend’s parents’ house – as an all-time favourite. It’s a classic case of Carrie’s commendably bold fashion tipping over into cosplay territory (dungarees and plaid for her fish-out-of-water jaunts upstate with Aidan; stripes, tweed and a pearl-trimmed chapeau for her arrival in Paris). While this look would get anyone else laughed out of the proverbial playground, SJP is one of the few women on earth who can pull off skin-tight tie-dyed trousers that cut off just below the knee. Respect.
Hayley Maitland, Acting Executive News & Features Editor
I appreciate that Ms Bradshaw – and Patricia Field – are best known for their outré fashion moments, and I love a red cowboy hat and leopard-print bandeau combo as much as the next Sex and the City fan, but I honestly don’t know that Carrie has ever looked chicer than the night she tries to win Aidan back at a Mexican restaurant with Steve and Miranda acting as her reluctant wingmen. It’s probably the most pared-back look she’s ever worn: a classic blazer, jeans, and a Gucci belt bag, which reappears a few episodes later when she is (once again) fighting with a certain furniture designer. A close runner-up for my favourite SATC outfit? The LBD (and other Gucci bag) she wears to break up with Justin Theroux’s Vaughn in season two.
Joy Montgomery, Senior Commerce Writer
The Carrie Bradshaw fashion Hall of Fame is certainly an eclectic one, and I find that every time I re-watch the series I’m drawn to a different facet of her style personality. One year I’ll be cute Carrie in a tutu, and the next I’ll be cowboy boot-clad country Carrie. I’ve even been known to go careering into peak-Noughties territory, newspaper-print dress and all, but the less said about that the better. But for 2023? It’s got to be the red co-ord she wore to her 35th birthday in season four. While her dinner party attendance left much to be desired, her outfit game was undoubtedly on point: a long-sleeved second-skin top paired with a high-waisted circle skirt (both in Ferragamo red – very spring/summer 2023), Fendi logo bag and statement black headpiece, because it wouldn’t be Carrie without a superfluous accessory.
Alex Kessler, Junior Fashion Editor
In the second season of SATC, Carrie wore a strapless chiffon maxi dress from Donna Karan’s spring/summer 1999 collection to a wedding, which will forever be one of my favourite looks (episode seven, FYI). The finishing touch of classic ballet pumps is a highlight – #balletcore way ahead of its time.
Emma Spedding, Acting Executive Fashion News & Features Editor
When thinking of my favourite Carrie Bradshaw outfits, my mind goes straight to the big scenes with the big dresses, which function as an extra character. The first is the the white bias slip dress she wears when she bumps into Mr Big outside of his engagement party. It’s surely no coincidence that Patricia Field opted for a dress which has a distinct bridal feel for Carrie to tell Big that he never understood her, just as he chooses to marry another woman. Of course she delivers this message in a bizarre convoluted way telling him: “Your girl is lovely, Hubbell.” Next up, there’s the bright pink Oscar de la Renta dress that is a gift from Aleksandr Petrovsky after Carrie describes it as “pure poetry.” She wears it in one of the most iconic scenes of the series, when she slow dances at the counter of McDonald’s. And finally, you can’t talk about big dress moments without talking about the epic Atelier Versace Mille Feuille gown she wears in Paris as her relationship with Petrovsky crumbles. It’s reportedly been valued at £60,000 and is so legendary that it had to make an appearance in And Just Like That.
Laura Hawkins, Acting Associate European Fashion Features Director
As one of the three girls in the Vogue office who has called out Carrie’s tie-dye capri pant and backwards Chanel blouse as her all-time favourite Patricia Field look, alas, I am a little perturbed that I was pipped to the bagsying post by our digital director Kerry McDermott. Another contender for the top prize, in my books? The jewel-tone Vivienne Westwood skirt she wore in season four, episode nine, with a peekaboo layered tulle bustle. Field is a master at making Carrie impossibly sexy; in this scene, she’s bronzed and toned in pink stilettos and a satin shirt, but also utterly off-kilter at the same time. She struts off through Manhattan’s streets looking half like a Playboy Bunny and half like she’s dressed in historical costume. It’s a combination that’s (almost) as killer as those capri pants and back-to-front Chanel.
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Radhika Seth, Film & Culture Editor
One of my favourite SATC episodes is the season five opener “Anchors Away”, in which Carrie goes on a date with her city that quickly takes a turn for the worse. She accidentally flashes passersby on a windy Fifth Avenue outside the Guggenheim, finds that the museum is in fact closed, gets caught in a freak rainstorm, scares off a potential love interest, and then sips matzo ball soup on a diner counter beside an eccentric New Yorker who sprinkles lithium on her ice cream. She’s visibly distressed, but her outfit couldn’t be more joyous: a baby pink sweater layered over a multicoloured, striped dress and topped off with a tangerine Chanel jacket. Polished and playful – it’s Carrie to the core.
