So I thought I could get away without even devoting any blog space to the subject of the Sex and the City movie which has had many mainstream fashion bloggers, girly forum threads, celeb-aholic sites going absolutely cuckoo mad over it the subject of the wardrobe which in true Patricia Field-style is there to raise eyebrows.
I’m not going to veer into the subject of the wardrobe itself as by and large, I don’t really have a problem with the outfits that Field has concocted and I’m certainly not surprised or stunned in anyway. My problem is with the importance people have been attributing these outfits with. The weekly fash rags, the London papers, the national tabloids have printed careless trend tidbits like ‘Thigh high socks will be huge! Wear them if you dare!’. I’m sorry, but I’m 100% sure thigh high socks existed before SJP pulled them on her ballet-honed legs and paired them with patent brogues and *gasp* yes, people have been wearing them before these pictures emerged as well! But the effects of a few on-set SATC movie pictures supposedly speaks volumes.
It’s the sort of lazy assumption on the part of these fashion pages and publications that for a lot of people Carrie Bradshow, (a TV show character…) holds strong resonance and is an influence that will have people rushing out to buy into the Carrie ‘look’. That sort of assumption is in part encouraged by the audience/readers themselves I suppose, by seeing people on forums and websites react so violently (positive and negative). I guess then my gripe is towards both the monster and the feeders of the monster. Perhaps my head is warped and I’m not personally convinced that women will strongly be swayed by what a tv show/movie character is wearing and start immediately buying into 50’s prom dresses, thigh high socks, sutdded belts and huge corsages. Hence why I grit my teeth and knaw at them, when I read things that pimp the character’s importance – ‘Carrie’s wearing sleeveless cardigans – here’s a selection!’, ‘Look studded accessories and prints! How novel and chic!’, ‘Oooh… and Eiffel Tower bag! Here’s a cheap alternative!’.
Yes, the movie does contain some outfits that are not of the conventional norm. But let’s not heap too much upon the wardrobe and just continue about our ways. Attributing trends and instructing what we should be buying based on these pictures is just a tad presumptuous for me.
Remember when Carrie used to where those HUGE flower corsages on almost every one of her outfits for practically an entire season? I can remember so many girls wearing them – on jackets and dresses and t-shirts… Hell, I can admit that even I had one (maybe not that large)
Anyway what I’m trying to say, is that a character like that can influence anyone as much as someone like Kate Moss can. When Sex and the City came out, it was such a breakthrough show, and became such watercooler fodder (“Can you BELIEVE what Carrie was wearing?? .. Wow Samantha is such a slut etc etc”). It was the thing for womean (and men) to talk about for quite a while. Since then more shocking shows have followed it, but it’s still so relevant for people (I guess, because it was so ‘ground-breaking’). And it was much-loved (and hated, i suppose), as well.
I just think that because the movie is finally coming out after all these years, people just want something to talk about. They’re hanging on to every paparazzi pic and set photographs that they can get their hands on. Let’s face it, weekly tabloids and daily newspapers like London Lite only have so much fashion / girl news that they can rehash over and over for the general female population.
I have seen far more ridiculous trends ‘forecasted’ in those kind of publications, and 99% of them never come to fruition.
yes, i agree… Most trends have been worn by SOMEONE before. and I think it¬¥s ridiculous to copy every trend out of SATC. i think if you LIKE something you saw on TV, okay, then you can buy it, but i see no necessity to copy every trend, even if it is your favourite show. when I was a child, i used to copy all of Miranda¬¥s outfits on Lizzie McGuire ;-)…
…xxx, cate
http://retrolifestyle.blogspot.com
God I want that Eiffel tower bag though – and a cheap copy WILL NOT DO!
I understand your frustration, the coverage of the SATC photographs has been annoying me too. I enjoy the clothes that they dress Carrie Bradshaw in, I find them interesting but primarily these magazines are spoiling a film for hundreds of people. The character is a follower of fashion, her style is not unique, in fact the point that most of the coverage is missing is that this is the work of a stylist and not the actress.
I get so tired of everyone attributing great style to SJP, when in essence its her fictious character with the style and the genius stylist who should get the credit!
jesus. how many times is that bitch going to change haircolour? maybe it’ll all break off at the end of the film?
the costumes are completely unrealistic. I love that she was wearing a 50k christian lacroix haute couture runway outfit when she was scoffing cakes (as if) in that paris caff.
I try to enjoy the fantasy. but girls trying to dress like her make me barf. dress like charlotte! please!
love,
Alex.
Am I the only one a bit scared by the bottom right picture?
Maybe I think of it differently because in Germany people don’t dress *that* creatively (mentioned that before I guess). The quality of our “charity shops” is quite bad as well, so that makes it even more difficult.
I always thought it was fun watching the different, sometimes quite funny styles and I do admit that it inspired me (without pimping the character’s importance) – do I have to feel ashamed for this? No, I don’t think so.
@ ida
you’re right, she looks pretty skinny!
Saskia: Of course you shouldn’t feel ashamed! I’m not criticising those that do take influence from Carrie Bradshaw’s style (aka Pat Field’s styling..). I’m criticising the fash rag press I’ve seen that ASSUMES people are going to be rushing out to copy this TV character.
Dare I suggest that SJP (and the film’s stylist) are trying to pull off some looks here that she’s just a bit too old for? The top right and top centre ones, the lumberjack shirt and slogan t-shirt… It’d look great on a 19-year-old art student, but at her 42 it just looks a bit demented, a bit try-hard. Some trends just aren’t meant to be worn by anyone other than teenagers; looking good in your forties tends to require getting slicker and chic-er rather than jumping on every grunge or slogan-tee bandwagon…
Pat Field/SATC may not be inventing trends, but I think the show definitely did (does) influence suburban, middle America in a way that Vogue or a lot of the other fashion mags don’t. Not only does HBO get broadcast into millions of homes, but pictures from the show — production stills and paparazi photos — run in all of the major weeklies in the US. I can say from personal experience that a lot of Americans’ idea of what is fashionable or stylish is influenced not by Vogue or Harper’s or even their own good sense, but by what they see in People, Us and on TV.
That’s why I would argue that SATC is so influential. Not necessarily because people copy the trends Carrie wears, but because it becomes their “standard” of fashion.
I hear what you’re saying about the hype. But I think part of the fascination with SJP is that she looks so damn good at her age and women even much younger than she is can only wish they could pull off the looks that she manages to pull off. Also, she’s not a perfect beauty, so she is accessible at the same time. I think it’s harmless, fun hype though.
I like some of the looks but don’t see much that hasn’t been done before and even recently such as the studded belts and the socks. I think Prada has influenced the sock wearing more than any leaked SATC pictures.
But I was excited that wearing of knee-high/thigh-high socks was shown more so I could feel more comfortable wearing mine. If I get asked if I’m influenced by these pics I’ll be kind of annoyed.
Luv
Poohchie
shoedaydreams.blogspot.com
I do agree, I’m weary of people cooing over every piece of every outfit from the show/movie and acting as if the movie is trendsetting, rather than acknowledging the runway origins of already-existing trends.
As a fan of more practical, wearable, flattering fashion, I can’t say that I like the aesthetic of Carrie Bradshaw’s straight-from-runway outfits, but I can see that it serves a purpose in bringing more adventurous, higher fashion to the household.
HERE HERE!….and I agree, it’s not about Patricia Field or SJP, but the hypocrisy of tabloids & mainstream media who despite being routinely hostile to fashion innovations feel the right to point out to us poor slobs such revolutionary concepts as thigh high socks…plus then to claim some associative bad-ass thrill if you “dare” be so avant-garde. That there’s any sense of the revelatory about a movie that takes years to make and market (and is aimed at as wide an audience as possible) is laughable.
Personally I don’t see why a movie/tv show can’t inspire you as much as a fashion magazine so I don’t agree.
This post isn’t about the demise of fashion magazines as inspiration! It’s my bafflement at the whole Carrie Bradshaw phenonmenon….and as mgw pointed out, the hypocrisy of mainstream media making Pat Fields’ styling as something extraordinary and because of the clothes’ affiliation with the show…ergo, us mere mortals should be wearing thigh high socks, corsages etc. It’s their idea of a promulgation of ‘innovative’ style through the medium of a hit TV show, that comes across as a little false….
Nothing wrong AT ALL with being inspired by tv show/movie characters….! My problem is with mainstream press’ presentation of it all…. particularly UK press.
I agree with Susanna’s point about the show opening Middle America’s eyes fashion-wise though…. it’s not something that I’m familiar with obviously being from the UK…. but it’s a fair point.
i never got the appeal of the show, but i can see why others are
from these pictures, i cant tell at all who or what she is or more precisely, what is THE “carrie look”? i think sjp is like the model of tv runway.
just my own little rambling. judging from these pictures, if that’s the standard of what’s fashionable, than man, do we need a new show!
I realised after I wrote that, that that wasn’t really what I meant, or you meant in the first place. What I really meant to say was that inspiration could come from there. But you are right, just because it CAN come doesn’t mean that it will.