Love, loss and everything Carrie Bradshaw rewore.
While Sex and the City's revival series was technically titled And Just Like That..., it easily could have been called the above. In the reboot, which premiered last December, fans watched as Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) dealt with the aftermath of—spoiler alert some 12 months in the making!—her husband Big's (Chris Noth) death in the first episode. Of course, she managed to move on while also looking as fashionable as ever, thanks to a little help from her friends. No, not Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis), but Fendi, Manolo and more of the designers responsible for some of the iconic pieces Carrie wore during the original HBO series run and its two follow-up movies.
And that was a strategic move on the part of the HBO Max show's wardrobe team: Molly Rogers, Sex and the City's co-costume designer since its inception, and Danny Santiago, who worked on both films. It also helped that SJP archived every outfit, NBD!
"These pieces were so important they played such important roles in the show and the movies," Santiago told E! News in December 2021. "The fans love these things. They are like characters in the movie and the fact that she has them, we thought, what a great way to bring them back out again?"
So let's get carried away and look back on all of the items Carrie Bradshaw has reworn on And Just Like That..., including the iconic gown fans might be seeing in the upcoming second season...
One of the first pieces Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) rewore in And Just Like That...'s premiere was also one of her most infamous accessories: Her wedding shoes a.k.a. the Manolo Blahnik silk Hangisi royal blue stilettos. Alas, they took on a much more bittersweet meaning after Carrie kicked them off in the shower as she cradled a dying Big (Chris Noth).
"It was something that really played through with the storyline," the show's co-costume designer Danny Santiago previously explained to E! News. "We felt like it brings it full circle as far as the longevity of that shoe and to sort of kiss it goodbye in this way."
In the same somber scene, Carrie wears another something old and blue, which is the flower pin on her jacket. But the wardrobe team made the decision to make a small tweak to the brooch, Santiago revealed, "because of what plays out, we had to dye the petals in the silk. But the one she's wearing in the scene is the actual archive flower that she has."
Carrie's black studded piece became one of the 2008 movie's breakout stars and originally came from Santiago's thrifted collection, though he gifted it to Parker after filming wrapped. And when it came to including archival items in the reboot, the costume department gave credit to their leading lady for holding onto almost all of the clothes she wore throughout the series' run, as well as the two movies.
"We were so lucky that Sarah Jessica has an archive of almost everything," Santiago said. "She kept all of these beautiful pieces that people have so much love for. These pieces were so important they played such important roles in the show and the movies. The fans love these things. They are like characters in the movie and the fact that she has them, we thought, what a great way to bring them back out again? That people are going to be able to see and appreciate it and love it and pick out."
The purple sequined number—which first made its debut in Fendi's Fall/Winter 1999-2000 collection and then in the original series when Carrie was mugged in SoHo, famously shouting at the thief, "It's a Baguette!"—made its comeback in episode three. Carrie broke out one of her most notable accessories when she and the girls went to see Che (Sara Ramirez) at their comedy show. She then reuses the bag when she goes out with Seema (Sarita Choudhury) in episode nine.
The Timmy Woods accessory, which made its debut in the first movie, felt like an appropriate item to reuse when Carrie returned to Paris in the And Just Like That... season one finale to scatter Big's ashes.
Carrie wore this stunning Versace "mille feuille" gown in Sex and the City's final season, though, as she wistfully noted in And Just Like That..., she never got the chance to wear it in public.
"Once in Paris and once here, just for fun," she told Seema. "I sat at that window and ate a whole thing of Jiffy Pop." Eating popcorn alone in your NYC apartment while wearing an $80,000 dress? That sounds like our Carrie!
In a picture from the set of the second season that quickly went viral, Parker was seen rewearing Carrie' iconic Vivienne Westwood gown from her failed wedding to Big in the 2008 movie—complete with an homage to the infamous blue bird she wore as a headpiece.
Could this be a dream sequence? A flashback? We can't help but wonder...