“Sex and the City” fans may be reveling in nostalgia, with the celebration of the HBO show’s 25th anniversary (complete with a museum exhibition and a handful of Sarah Jessica Parker sightings and soundbites). But on the horizon, a whole new crop of fashion moments are ready to be unleashed when Max debuts season 2 of the SATC spinoff “And Just Like That.”
Since the season’s trailer first appeared in late May, viewers have had glimpses of what the show will bring. And while there are plenty of plot lines to discuss — Miranda and Che Diaz in early romantic bliss (and tension), Charlotte going back to work, Carrie finally learning to cook in her kitchen, Aiden’s return, and the bombshell of them all: a Samantha Jones cameo — there were also some flashes of the fashion moments that will ensue. It’s a topic that Parker and show costume designers Molly Rogers and Danny Santiago hinted at during a June 8 discussion for the 25th anniversary celebration of the series.
Here, a rundown of all the fashion — and shoe — moments that we can expect from season 2 of “And Just Like That.” Stay tuned here for a weekly look at the sartorial highlights of each episode once the show premieres on June 22.
A whole new haul of heels
“Life’s too short to try something new,” Carrie Bradshaw says in voiceover for the season 2 trailer of “And Just Like That” as she kicks open the door to her apartment, carrying an inordinate amount of lavender Bergdorf Goodman bags. Cut to an overhead shot of Carrie, surrounded by shoeboxes and trying on heels while sitting on the bench at the edge of her bed. Among the spoils: A pair of René Caovilla’s classic crystal-encrusted Cleo heel, Loewe’s famed rose-heeled strappy sandal, two pairs of Jimmy Choos (the Anise high-heeled mule in metallic turquoise and the Flaca pink velvet mule), two pairs of two pairs of Gucci heels (ankle-strap pumps in two-tone pink and then a pair of bright yellow satin mules with bar hardware on the heel). And at least five other sparkly options. It’s the feast for the eyes that so many shoe lovers have been waiting for.
The return of the bird
The show trailer opens on Carrie opening a box that reveals the feather bird — yes, that feather bird, which she wore on her head in the doomed first wedding attempt with Mr. Big back in the 2008 “Sex and the City: The Movie.” The accessory seems poised as another ill-fated fashion memento from the character’s tragic romance with Mr. Big.
It was an object that Parker and costume design team Molly Rogers and Danny Santiago focused on during the panel discussion for “And Just Like That… It’s Been 25 Years, a Sex and the City Experience on June 8.
“You are very unique,” Rogers (who has worked with Parker since the show’s beginning, when she was assisting SATC head costume designer Pat Field) told Parker onstage. “You are the only actress that someone can hand a bird to and you put it on your head, and then you hand another bird to, and you walk down the street with it!”
The trio even called out showrunner Michael Patrick King sitting in the audience to ask him about his reaction to the bird on Parker’s head while filming “Sex and the City: The Movie” in 2007. “They opened the little closet in the lobby of the building where Carrie was coming out, and I see this bird. And I just had to take a step back and I closed the door,” King said. “I thought, ‘I don’t know what to say,’ and [Sarah Jessica] looks me right in the eyes and says, ‘It’s amazing!’
How the bird headpiece will make its way into the storyline remains to be seen, but it’s likely to be resolved in the premiere episode.
More vintage Carrie looks
One of the bright moments of the first season of “And Just Like That” was the upcycled fashion. It wasn’t just the Fendi Baguette that Carrie brought back out. She also slipped on her old Versace tulle ballgown (the one she wore while waiting for Aleksander Petrovsky in a fancy hotel suite). And it wasn’t even the first time the character would rewear a look — remember the Christian Dior newsprint dress that she almost got ride of in the first movie?
A bona fide fashion girl like Carrie promoting the recycling of garments goes a long way in messaging. In the panel discussion, Parker pointed to fashion throwbacks as essential to the series.
I want to keep them together, I want to keep them documented,” she said of the wardrobe. “I want to be able to, just for purely economic reasons, bring them back, populate that closet again, set dressing that closet for every episode. It’s the way we all have our closets, things don’t just disappear.”
It’s likely that the bird headpiece will be joined by other keepsakes.
Samantha style
The most anticipated moment of the new season is also likely be one of its fashion highlights. That’s because the return of Kim Cattrall as fan-favorite character Samantha Jones will come with a behind-the-scenes cameo from “Sex and the City” lead costume designer Patricia Field, who dressed the actress for the singular scene, which Cattrall reportedly shot without contact of any other lead characters or showrunner King.
In season one of “And Just Like That,” it was explained that Samantha had moved to London, where she kept a tense text exchange with Carrie. In her season two cameo, she is reported to having a phone conversation with Carrie. We can only hope she’ll be wearing some version of a Savile Row power suit, reinterpreted by Field in a look-at-me color with matching statement earrings and perhaps a big old hat, since the series is so keen on them.
Carrie in sweatshirts
“There’s nothing more exciting for me than having one of the shoppers to find the more perfect sweatshirt that [Parker] has never seen, and we’re all excited to present it to her. There are a couple of classics in season two,” hinted Rogers on some of the more unexpected fashion pieces of the season.
In fact, a key scene in the trailer reveals Carrie barefoot, wearing an oversized white sweatshirt while cooking in her kitchen. “Did you know stoves aren’t just for storage?” she asks.
“It sounds so silly and kind of trite to talk about the joy a sweatshirt can bring,” Parker added during the panel discussion. “Finding that special piece, even in its worst condition, which by the way we find delectable… That thing that is not available, it’s on its last legs, it existed in 1987. It’s just one more thing that helps Michael and the writers to write the story. It’s like the golden ticket.”
Traffic-stopping looks
There’s not much else that Parker, Rogers and Santiago would reveal during their conversation on the show’s costume design. “I’m inclined to give away nothing,” Parker joked. “As much as you’ve seen is as much as I’m willing to say.”
But from a sneak peek at still images based on the trailer, there will be plenty of fashion moments to go around for all of the series characters. A shot of actress Nicole Ari Parker with castmate Christopher Jackson shows her character Lisa Todd Wexley literally stopping traffic in a custom red Valentino gown with a gigantic feather headpiece while Jackson’s character Herbert Wexley carries her train across the street crossing.
Stay tuned for more fashion highlights from “And Just Like That” season 2, which premieres June 22 on Max.
