I Recreated 3 of Carrie Bradshaw’s Most Iconic Looks

Let’s talk Sex and the City. I’m definitely a Miranda but I always admired Carrie’s adventurous fashion choices, even if some of them missed the mark (giant flower brooches, anyone?). Her effortless and even unkempt style has stuck with me from my teenage years into adulthood.

While SATC holds a special place in my heart, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to rewatch it all the way through. The show was ahead of its time in some ways but has not aged well in others (I recently watched a clip of the characters discussing bisexuality and damn was it cringe worthy). Topics of race, sexuality, and gender were not handled appropriately by 2020 standards, not to mention the complete lack of diversity among the main cast.

What do we do with shows and movies that become problematic as they age? Leave them in the past? Approach them with a critical eye? Stop putting them on a pedestal? Recognize them as a representation of culture at the time? I ask myself these questions more and more frequently as I age.

Though Sex and the City has aged poorly, Carrie’s style has remained evergreen. I find myself returning to some of her most iconic (or even underrated) looks time and time again. I love how artistic Carrie was with her style, often wearing pieces in a different way than they were intended. I hope to bring that same mindset to my own fashion choices. I decided to recreate and modernize three of my favorite Carrie looks. These re-imaginings are all much more affordable and the majority of these pieces are thrifted.

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The Ab Belt

This outfit haunts me. I used to hate it because the belt was so strange with the cropped button-down situation. I don’t actually hate the belt though, so I decided to re-imagine the look as ’80s-inspired workout wear! Work those abs!

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The Boyfriend Button-down

I absolutely love the messiness of this look, but she still makes it look intentional with the addition of the belt. I decided to add bike shorts to modernize this look and make it more wearable. I hate to think what would happen if Carrie bent over in this outfit!

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The Midnight Walk

Let me think back to the girl I was when I first saw this look in the Sex and the City Movie.
I was a creative and ambitious teenager, though still a bit naive and insecure. I aspired to be like the women I looked up to: successful, fashionable, confident. I remember watching the New Years Eve scene where Carrie throws on Manolos and a fur coat over her pajamas to go comfort Miranda in the middle of the night. “THAT is the woman I want to be,” I thought. It’s uncertain what made this scene resonate with me so much. The opulence of throwing a fur coat on over pajamas. The audacity of walking through the city in mismatched pajamas. The sweetness of trekking through the snow to see a friend.
Whatever it was, that scene stuck with me.
Back then, I spent so much time envisioning the woman I wanted to be. Pasting pictures of her around my mirror, flipping through pages of her in magazines, watching her in movies. But now, a decade later, I’ve realized that I am her. I’ve always been my dream woman. All I had to do is decide that I was. Who knew it could be so easy?
So, to show myself that I am indeed the fabulous woman I’ve always wanted to be, I recreated Carrie’s thrown together New Years Eve look (sans Manolos of course) using all vintage and clothing I already own. The dream woman is a state of mind!

Which look is your favorite? Comment down below and let me know which look I should recreate next!

Styling Vintage Nightgowns

If I look up from where I’m sitting in my living room, I can easily spot several useless but pretty items I’ve collected over the years: an empty french cookie tin, glass candle jars with nothing but a stub of wick and a thin film of wax at the bottom, a beer bottle with a minimalist design that I now use to display a single dried leaf. I find it impossible to part with these items because they’re too pretty for the trash bin. Once every few months, I’ll get overwhelmed with the clutter and purge some stuff from my stash. But, without fail, a few months later I’ll have another budding collection of tiny glass jars and artfully designed boxes.

One item I consistently gravitate towards even though I have little use for it is a pretty vintage nightgown. I’m always cold when I sleep, so I prefer to wear something more cozy than a gown. Many of my prettiest sleepwear pieces have therefore spent years balled up in the back of a drawer, but time and time again I would leave the thrift store with another lacy gown to add to my collection.

I eventually decided that I needed to change my approach to these pieces and rethink how I could use them. Since then, I’ve started trying to style my vintage nightgowns in ways that can be worn out of the house and look more appropriate for day to day.

If you’ve never thought about thrifting sleepwear and want to start, or if you have a bunch of nighties you never wear, here are my four top ways to style a nightgown for daily wear!

1. Layer it over bike shorts and a tight tee.

2. Tuck it into jeans to make it look like a camisole.

3. Tie it up for a cropped cut.

4. Dress it up with makeup and accessories. Slip dresses are very trendy for dressy occasions right now—no one has to know you got this one in the sleepwear section!

How do you like to style vintage sleepwear? Let me know in the comments!