And Just Like That makes a splash on the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue

The newest season of And Just Like That opens with Shoe The Cat standing on the window of The Closet. Only You by Yaz is playing and the camera pans to Carrie Bradshaw’s dresses. Some already iconic, some soon to be. All are larger-than-life, just like Carrie. I couldn’t help but wonder, was she always the fashion icon she is today? 

A quick rewatch of the Sex And The City pilot later, I’d never have guessed. Sure, it’s good-looking enough but nothing screams most-important-fashiony-show-on-TV. The first episode saw the usual 90s suspects — two sightings of leopard print, one oversized blazer, a classic LBD and an oversized blue button-down. That was June 6, 1998. And 27 years later, everything is back again. But this story is not about fashion cycles. It’s about the new and now. 

Back to the opening scene of Season 3. Carrie is sending Aidan postcards casually lounging in a sheer Simone Rocha corset dress. She puts on a matching jacket and high heels her way down the grand staircase at her new Gramercy Park address. This romantic spring-summer 2024 dress and some other key looks made its way to the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue, New York City flagship. 

The immersive display comprising seven windows inspired by the new season was on display earlier this month. Several looks curated by costume designers Molly Rogers and Danny Santiago came together with some high-tech installs. A kinetic recreation of Carrie’s blue Manolo Blahniks fashioned from coffee cups saying “Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful”, a digital recreation of a bar scene featuring a purple sequinned Fendi baguette and Cosmopolitan, and a Carrie-inspired cocktail menu, a bag-check carousel featuring it bags hauled by the cast down the years. Even JW Anderson’s pigeon purse appeared carrying a Metro Card in a dreamy Central Park rain montage. My favourite was a nostalgic moment — a reimagination of Carrie’s wedding dress by Vivienne Westwood. The bodice was crafted from New York’s famed Metro Cards and the rest with newspaper cuttings.  
Sex and the City is definitely having a moment. It was inevitable, since Gen Z girls have discovered it. Many other millennial trends are back — in case you’re wondering why big hair, Pokemon and choreographed dances are suddenly everywhere. 

After a lukewarm response to the SATC reboot in December 2021, most of us OG fans are now on board with And Just Like That. But I have to admit, I watch it just as much for Carrie, as I do for Sarita Chowdhury who plays the fiery Seema Patel (did you catch her Sabysachi belt?) and Nicole Ari Parker who is my current fashion obsession as Lisa Todd Wexley.

Pictures courtesy: The writer and Saks Fifth Avenue Instagram page