{"id":72773,"date":"2025-08-15T23:45:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T23:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/72773\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T23:45:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T23:45:07","slug":"from-cosmopolitans-to-vibrators-the-cultural-heft-of-sex-and-the-city-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/72773\/","title":{"rendered":"From cosmopolitans to vibrators, the cultural heft of Sex and the City | Fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before Sex and the City<\/a>, the cosmopolitan was just vodka, cranberry juice, Cointreau and lime juice. Afterwards it was a symbol of girlfriends, sex, flirting and freedom. But it wasn\u2019t only the image of the pink cocktail that the show revolutionised.<\/p>\n

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From the time it first aired in 1998, the show \u2013 and to a lesser extent its descendant, And Just Like That \u2013 has shaped the way we dress, eat, drink, date, exercise and work. What it did for the cosmo it also did for everything from nameplate necklaces to vibrators, catapulting them to pop-culture phenomenon status.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was quite startling, the effect it had,\u201d said Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, the author of Sex and the City and Us, which includes a chapter about SATC capitalism. \u201cIt even changed the way we brunch. Overnight, we all understood that you go to brunch with your girlfriends to talk explicitly about sex.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what are the items that the SATC universe supercharged?<\/p>\n

Cosmopolitans<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was not a mainstream drink before,\u201d said Armstrong. \u201cBut I think it will forever be a staple on cocktail menus because of SATC. It was the perfect drink for the show. It\u2019s pink, so it reads as feminine, and it looks great on screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

No longer just vodka, cranberry juice, Cointreau and lime juice. Photograph: Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/p>\n

It might now be a drinks order that would raise a smirk with a well-seasoned bartender, but it still stands for more than the sum of its parts.<\/p>\n

Peloton<\/p>\n

When Big died of a heart attack after his 1,000th Peloton workout in the first episode of And Just Like That, it inextricably linked the brand to a moment of televisual tragedy. Peloton spokespeople were quick to point out that Big\u2019s unhealthy lifestyle was to blame and not their bike. The company even put out a parody advert featuring Chris Noth, the actor who played Big, alive and healthy (which it removed after sexual assault allegations surfaced against him).<\/p>\n

But the cultural harm was perhaps already done. \u201cI\u2019m unsure if it was that exact moment, but I really don\u2019t see\/hear people talking about them as much as they used to,\u201d said Stephen Leng, who runs the Instagram fan account SamanthaJonesPR<\/a>. \u201cPerhaps we all moved on after the pandemic, perhaps it was the cultural impact of Mr Big\u2019s death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apple laptop<\/p>\n

Carrie Bradshaw\u2019s laptop was a character unto itself, the screen upon which various sentences of her columns were written, generally crescendoing up to the phrase \u201cI couldn\u2019t help but wonder\u201d. Armstrong got hers \u201cessentially because of Carrie,\u201d she said. \u201cI remember getting my first Mac laptop and taking it to a park in the West Village to write and very much cosplaying Carrie.\u201d Bradshaw\u2019s laptop now resides in the Smithsonian<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nameplate necklaces<\/p>\n

They are now so synonymous with Bradshaw that to many they are known simply as \u201cCarrie necklaces\u201d, but the costume designer Patricia Field says in her book that she first spotted them on young Hispanic and African-American customers who came to her shop. Since criticised for culturally appropriating<\/a> the necklace, she said in a 2023 interview<\/a>: \u201cYes, I appropriated the name necklace from the multitude of young, gorgeous girls who were my customers in my shop. The name necklace always caught my eye, but I have always given the credit to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Leng, it is \u201cone of the only fashion items that Carrie ever wore that was really accessible \u2026 They\u2019re still sold all over the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fendi Baguette bag<\/p>\n

Launched in 1997, a year before Bradshaw hit screens, this luxury handbag is now rarely mentioned without connection to the character. \u201cIt\u2019s not a bag,\u201d Bradshaw once corrected a thief trying to steal her from her. \u201cIt\u2019s a Baguette.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carrie Bradshaw\u2019s Fendi Baguette. Photograph: Tristan Fewings\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Searches on secondhand retail sites prove there\u2019s still appetite for vintage Baguettes, with Sarah Jessica Parker regularly wearing the bag, out of character, over the years.<\/p>\n

Cigarettes<\/p>\n

In some quarters and for all the damage they do, cigarettes seem to be back in fashion<\/a>, and Bradshaw might well be one of the original smoking influencers, referenced along with James Dean or Audrey Hepburn. Often seen with a cigarette in hand \u2013 while writing, drinking or sitting on her stoop, Bradshaw\u2019s smoking was a major plot point in early seasons, and the series won a 2001 award for accurate depiction of a nicotine addiction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Manolos<\/p>\n

Bradshaw\u2019s feet were no stranger to Jimmy Choos and Christian Louboutins, but it was shoes by the Spanish-born, London-based designer Manolo Blahnik that really clicked, becoming a regular wardrobe choice and plot point. People took note.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarrie\u2019s complete obsession with them meant that I, a gay teenager growing up in rural Hampshire, knew that they were the shoe to covet,\u201d said Leng. \u201cEven now, I can spot a real one from a mile off.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was the episode where Bradshaw took umbrage at having to take them off for a party, and another where she got mugged for some. Most famous perhaps is that she was proposed to via a pair of blue satin and brooch bejewelled Hangisi Manolo Blahnik pumps. The shoe went on to become one of the designer\u2019s best-selling designs.<\/p>\n

Those Manolo pumps. Photograph: Manolo BlahnikThe Rabbit<\/p>\n

The show is credited with bringing vibrators out of the shadows, ushering in a new era of sexual consumerism. The Rabbit first featured in an episode in 1998. The day after, people who worked at sex-toy shops reported queues around the block<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SATC \u201chad an absolutely insane effect on Rabbit vibrator sales,\u201d said Armstrong. \u201cThis named the model and also made it feel more safe and normal to a lot of women, especially with the character of Charlotte being the one who got addicted, given that she was the most conservative of the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Post-it notes<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, I can\u2019t. Don\u2019t hate me.\u201d These are the words that will run through the head of SATC fans whenever they see a Post-it. Written by Bradshaw\u2019s brief love interest Jack Berger, the actor Ron Livingston reportedly suffered the consequences of his avoidant breakup style in real life after the episode aired, having to hide from angry fans.<\/p>\n

Others have since noted that what in 2003 felt like an off-key way to end things feels \u201cborderline romantic\u201d<\/a> in the 2020s era of ghosting. You can buy replicas on Etsy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vivienne Westwood wedding dress<\/p>\n

Despite being jilted not quite at the altar wearing a Vivienne Westwood design in 2008, Bradshaw made the late British designer the go-to for anti-brides of a certain age.<\/p>\n

Carrie Bradshaw in her wedding dress. Photograph: Maximum Film\/Alamy<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that Charli XCX wore a Viv dress for her extremely East London wedding earlier this summer<\/a> shows the lasting impact that Carrie \u2013 running out of her wedding before whacking Big on the head with her bouquet \u2013 has had on the zeitgeist,\u201d Leng said. \u201cIt\u2019s possible Carrie\u2019s gown did as much for the high-end wedding dress industry as Vera Wang achieved in her whole career.\u201d<\/p>\n