It was the show that made Manolo Blahnik a byword for achingly cool after the designer’s shoes played a starring role on Sarah Jessica Parker’s feet in the early noughties. Now fashion brands and retailers are hoping that the “Sex and the City effect” will strike again with And Just Like That, the much-anticipated sequel series.
Last week, the latest image circulated of Sarah Jessica Parker wearing a pair of dungarees on the set of And Just Like That, sending newspaper fashion columnists into a frenzy. The power of the franchise means that this image alone could increase sales of the trousers.
“Dungarees could definitely get a bounce from this,” says Jane Shepherdson, who was brand director for Topshop when Sex and the City hit its peak and is now chair of fashion rental platform My Wardrobe HQ. “The way that the show will do it – sort of sexy, feminine but also a bit rock. That kind of combination is attractive for a lot of people.”
Shepherdson speaks from experience. While CEO at Whistles, the brand released a pleated coral midiskirt called the Carrie, named in honour of Parker’s character, Carrie Bradshaw, in 2011. An association with an era’s most fashionable TV show – and its most fashionable character – meant the Carrie quickly became a bestseller. Shepherdson believes the new series could have a similar impact. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they come up with some looks that are highly desirable and that we will all want to wear,” she says. “I think there will be people who will think ‘oh, yeah, that’s for me’, because they see it on the show.”
There is already evidence that this may be the case – despite the fact that the show doesn’t air until next month. In July, Lyst reported that searches for Fendi baguette bags – a Sex and the City classic set to be reprised – were up 45% after Parker was seen carrying one. Platform heels, very much a new addition to Bradshaw’s shoedrobe, had a similar bounce, with searches up 21%. While some have questioned the outfits in images seen so far from the show – Rebecca Weinberg, who worked on the original, described the looks as “prim and polished” – a huge fanbase for the show means millions of viewers will be sizing up the looks.
After Parker wore the Lena Non-Stop Disco platform by Terry de Havilland at the end of this summer, the style sold out (with a £275 price tag) and did so again when more were put on sale. The endorsement helped put the brand on new radars. “We found it helped enormously with brand exposure specifically in the American market and we gained a lot of new customers from there,” says sales and marketing director Josh Spurling. “The exposure gained by someone as iconic as the character Carrie Bradshaw really helped point customers in our direction.”
Other items have had similar stories – a dress by British brand Emilia Wickstead worn by Kristin Davis sold out, as did Saint Laurent shoes worn by Parker. In July, a picture of Parker wearing the Bobbie Jean hat (£235) by New York-based milliner Monrowe was released, leading to a spike in sales. “It definitely won’t hurt the brand in any way having a style icon in one of your signature pieces,” says founder and designer Dani Evans. “I’m sure the brand awareness will become more highlighted after the show airs. I wouldn’t be mad if Carrie did for Monrowe what she did for Manolo Blahnik.”
Long before the show hits UK TV screens on 9 December, Instagram has played its part in the anticipation around the outfits. Images of Parker’s Bradshaw, Davis as Charlotte Yorke Goldenblatt and Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes have been pored over. Accounts such as @justlikethatcloset and @everyoutfitonsatc document the looks in minute detail, to their thousands of followers.
Sex and the City ran for six seasons from 1998 to 2004, and there have been two follow-up films, in 2008 and 2010. Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo benefited. The show, in a way that seemed very modern at the time, name checked designer brands specifically, with shoes a particular focus. As it became more popular – with 10.6 million viewers in the US tuning in for the finale – the fortunes of these brands grew. According to a buyer at Neiman Marcus in 2000, Blahnik’s sales tripled thanks to the show.
Molly Rogers, one of the costume designers for And Just Like That, has worked to update the wardrobes of the three main characters – who are now in their 50s. They re-wear items that were worn in Sex and the City – perhaps to please super-fans, but also as a nod to a more sustainable take on style. Blahnik’s blue satin shoes, worn by Bradshaw to marry Mr Big in the first Sex and the City movie, make an appearance. Vintage – a big part of the first series too – is also important. At one point, Davis wears a ruffled top by Givenchy from 1996, while Nixon has a vintage Bottega Veneta bag.
The clothes reflect their characters, 11 years on from their last outing. “In our initial meeting with Michael Patrick King [the show’s executive producer and writer], he spoke to us about growth and changes in life and friendships,” she says. “These storylines sent us out into the world looking for a wardrobe to illustrate where they were.” Some things are constant, of course: “Carrie will forever be the NYC woman who mixes vintage and new, up and downtown, and Charlotte is obviously an Upper East Side mom with that lifestyle.”
Rogers, who worked on the original series with costume designer Patricia Field, says digital culture makes the big reveal of broadcast trickier. “I have tried to keep some surprises but the paparazzi have really broadcast everything that was on the exterior [scenes shot outside] around the world.” She is, however, confident some surprises will only be seen when the first episodes air.
“Hopefully not many of the interior scenes got out on to the airwaves,” she says. “There are no rules in costuming this show. I hope everyone has a great time watching.”
