Hip or hype? SATC mania
- Published: 13 May 2008 10:42
- Author: Laura Weir
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- Last Updated: 13 May 2008 10:42
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The four outfits worn by The Sex in the City actresses at last night's London premiere has left me wondering…Does Sex in the City still have the fashion foresight it did four years ago or are the characters no longer credible as the empowered, New Yorkite fashionistas they portrayed?
In the late 1990s The Sex in the City girls: Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte, changed the way women approached shopping and how they felt about themselves. They injected a new confidence into the female zeitgeist, encouraging experimentation with fashion and pushed boundaries like mixing Haute Couture with vintage. Shopping for second hand clothes became cool and a simple pair of black courts were no longer acceptable accessories.
The series ran for four years vanishing from our screens in 2004 and now it is back.
Sex in the City: The movie will arrive at a cinema near you on May 28 and at last night's London premiere the four actresses Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Catrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristen Davis hit London's Leicester Square, greeted by hordes of screaming fans. Although they looked amazing in the flesh (according to my flatmate who was lucky enough to attend) their outfits were not as exciting or as eccentric as I had anticipated. The signature styling of Sex in the City costumier Patricia Field was nowhere to be seen, as the four women dressed themselves. But then perhaps it is about time I and the rest of the SATC fans came to terms with the fact that the women are actresses and not the fictional characters they played.
Despite this the quartet did a good job of channelling their alter egos through the outfits they wore and all made a demure and dazzling entrance.
Parker wore a green Philip Tracey fascinator and a green prom style tulle and feather dress by Alexander McQueen, channelling Carrie's eccentric sense of style but sticking to a colour pallette that works well with her skin tone.
Catrall donned a sexy pillar-box red Vivienne Westwood creation which while perhaps not the most flattering shape on her, was a bold and very Samantha like choice.
Nixon shone, ironically the opposite of the long line of fashion disasters her character Miranda car crashed her way through in the TV series.
Nixon opted for a floor skimming, plunging black dress while Davis looked classic in a red vintage number.
While I wasn't expecting Sarah Jessica Parker to rock up to the red carpet in velour hot pants, over the knee socks and a ghetto fabulous name plate necklace, a little bit more of Carrie would have been nice.
But then again the world's most famous girlfriends are now 10 years older, they have grown up and perhaps the outfits of old are no longer appropriate for the Sex in the City of new. Either way their fashion choices last night still took centre stage.
What do you think about the movie? Will it change the face of fashion and get women shopping again? Are you jumping on the bandwagon and running promotions or marketing in your store?
We'd love to hear your views.

