Four Leaf cLover Good Luck Charms: Liz Smith: The Fashion Power of 'Sex and the City'

05/12/2010 12:00 am
Culture
Liz Smith: The Fashion Power of 'Sex and the City'
Also from Our Liz, washed ashore on the charitable 'Beach' with Liz Hurley … And Candy Spelling 'Promises, Promises' to become the next Broadway mogul.
SATC 2 Images courtesy of Warner Bros/Craig Blankenhorn
"You have the choice of spending 15 years married to a woman. A black woman or a white woman. Fifteen years just seeing, hugging and sleeping real close on hot nights. Fifteen years with a black woman or fifteen years with a white woman!
"The white woman is Kate Smith … and the black woman is Lena Horne.
"So, you are not concerned with black or white anymore, are you?"
This was the great Lenny Bruce scoring American’s prejudices back in the late ’50s.
***
Ran into my friend and colleague Roger Friedman who was at lunch in the Four Seasons Grill with the very rich Candy Spelling.
He told me Candy is a backer of the hit "Promises, Promises" and that she intends to become the next David Merrick in Broadway producing.
Well, I can hardly wait for the soon-to-be theater advertisements because David Merrick was a genius at those as well. As for Candy, any woman who has an entire room in her house dedicated to wrapping presents should make a hell of a legit producer. Welcome to New York City, Candy!
***
Every time we mention "Sex & the City" we get a lot of people carping about how much they hate the famous four, aren’t interested in them and to forget it. (I suppose that’s why the first feature film made only $400 million-plus worldwide. And why the TV series is still omnipresent on your cable screens.)
So now comes the No. 2 movie and I’m asking, fashion-wise, what will you be buying this time around from the influence of these famous four women – Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda? (If nothing else, they had excellent names!)
There were great expectations from the original movie but overt consumerism didn’t really work that well considering the global financial downturn. So audiences may have been a bit cool to the choices of the famous four.
Carrie and the TV series stylist Patricia Field did great work influencing fashion trends at the beginning of the series. Over six seasons, they slayed their fans with a mixture of kitsch, vintage dresses and big designer prices. Ray-Ban aviators sold well because of them, as well as vintage fur coats, prom dresses, corsages and everybody splurged on Manolo Blahniks. The "Carrie" necklace caused hundreds of girls to go to work with their names hung around their necks.
Reporter Emma Sibbles particularly asks us to remember Carrie’s pinstripe Vivienne Westwood suit and cameo brooch, the mottled purple coat, lace slip and pink Louboutins worn on her last date with Mr. Big. The tutu worn by Carrie in the opening credits became famous.
Now, many women are excited on the eve of "S&TC" No. 2, opening May 27. In spite of a current mood of "simplicity" – many are waiting for a dose of escapism and sheer fun. People want to imitate Carrie’s effortless look. (And I’d say at most dressy galas, Sarah Jessica is still the cynosure of all fashion eyes, along with that "outsider" – Chloe Sevigny from "Big Love.")
They say in movie No. 2, expensive designer labels will prevail. Halston Heritage appears a lot in the trailer and Sarah Jessica Parker is a creative consultant for this label and wore it recently to Anna Wintour’s "Costume" ball at the Metropolitan Museum.
Reporter Sibbles quotes the buying director at Averyl Oates in London as saying, "Halston Heritage is selling amazingly right now. Whether this is because of the ‘Carrie Effect’ – who knows? The company is also exclusively stocking Carrie’s feathered Raven Kauffman Ale bag. So get in line for that."
Some people also love Carrie’s four-leaf clover necklace, her printed harem jumpsuit and the lilac and gray skirt she wears when she bumps into old flame Aidan. There’ll be some fun stuff – Miranda in a green sequin dress that is "pure ABBA tribute" … Carrie’s tux-and-bowtie outfit … Samantha’s red ensemble with silver-spiked shoulders … and some ’80s "faux pas" that could have been omitted.

Wait till you catch the foursome striding across the desert sand dunes in headscarves and floaty maxi-dresses. Does "Sex & the City" still have the magic? We have to wait and see because probably after No. 2, these girls ain’t coming back down this row again, not together at any rate.

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Now that the euro is down and shopping in Barcelona is affordable again, La Roca Village would be the first stop! Smart move for Liz Hurley to open there.

By MichaelFox on 05/12/2010 12:40 am

I love SATC, have all the DVDs from the show and the first film, and plan on seeing the second film. I think the franchise should stop there, however. A new show with younger actresses (which was mentioned here a while back) will just ruin the memories. Part of a classic is knowing when it is over.

By kermieb on 05/12/2010 12:57 am

I love SATC, also. Just plain silly fun. I like a little escapism.

By SheraSutherland on 05/12/2010 8:04 am

Lena Horne is black? You would never know by looking at her photo. Lenny never did have good eyesight.

By JeffMichaels on 05/12/2010 8:52 am

If I could still wear high high heels I would buy a pair of shoes like one of Carrie’s many pairs. When SATC was on every Sunday night on HBO, it made my Monday mornings at work delightful. I was in such a good mood from watching the show. I don’t know many series I can say that about!!

By YvonneFaye on 05/12/2010 9:37 am

Liz,thanks for the Lenny quote…love it! Lena really was a special and beautiful woman. Younger ladies on this site would be well advised to research her online and maybe invest in renting one of the movies she was featured in. But until you do, here’s a clip pulled from YouTube.

Great point Liz about the success of Sex and the City despite the claims by those on this site that they have no interest in it. It did indeed make millions and continues to. My fashion sense is closest to Samantha’s character, but I must admit I did invest in a 14K gold signature necklace (Belinda) like Carrie’s. A big part of watching the show and the movies is the chance to see some truly spectacular clothes. I’m not a shoe woman, but they always feature some of the most beautiful heels I have ever seen.

By BelindaJoy on 05/12/2010 9:41 am

Poor Kate Smith––Lenny Bruce made many pivotal points, but this one veered off in the wrong direction. One doesn’t have to degrade something to boost something else.
Watching Sex and the City is like having a rich dessert that satisfies, but you feel a little guilty indulging. And unless you are still into clothes, furs, and shoes, there is a bit of a disconnect. But I liked the female camaraderie, something I had in my youth––that almost visceral connection with other females. And I thought Mr. Big was just that–-a big mister.

By phyllisDoylePepe on 05/12/2010 10:06 am

I’d like to think that Lenny Bruce was also commenting on prejudice against fat people in his riff on Kate Smith and Lena Horne…but even if that’s the case (and I think he was only thinking of the black/white contrast and was perfectly happy mocking Smith’s weight), it comes across as an unfortunate slam against the great Kate. Yes, she was ultra-conservative in her politics, but that’s no excuse to perpetuate the jokes abourt her weight.

By davidgarnes on 05/12/2010 12:50 pm

Interesting perspective from my fellow bloggers on the Lenny Bruce quote, I didn’t interpret it in that manner at all. I thought he was simply making a case that race doesn’t matter when it comes to choosing the woman you love or spend your life with in the final analysis. A HUGELY controversial observation to make aloud during the 50’s and 60’s.

Kate Smith may have been overweight, but she wasn’t unattractive. It would be different if he referenced an unattractive White woman in contrast to Lena Horne.Then, I would make the assumption he was comparing levels of beauty.

But there you go….we all interpret things differently.

By BelindaJoy on 05/12/2010 4:19 pm

I don’t think he was simply making the case that race doesn’t matter when obviously race mattered a lot. He was, as he did with most hypocrisies and stupidities, ramming the truth to all the folks who had those sticky eggs on their faces. But in this instance he was comparing a woman like Kate Smith, perhaps not unattractive, but not one who congers up sexual fantasies. And that was his point—Lena did and oh, my god, she is black. He could have more successfully pointed out that black women had great appeal to all those slave owners who produced another whole generation in abundance. He could have pointed out that it was the white man that corrupted–-I use this word because that was one of the arguments at the time–– the black genes, not the other way round.

By phyllisDoylePepe on 05/12/2010 6:28 pm

Aaaaa! Slew! Slay - slew - slain! Sorry… the teeth were on edge for a moment.

That said, I have yet to see any of Sex and the City. My fashion sense tends more to jeans anyway… and I can barely find any good-looking adult shoes that fit, so… much as I would love to have a closet full, I never will.

By LilaKuh on 05/12/2010 4:22 pm

Thanks Liz, for the "carping" comment and for pointing out yet again, that SATC is escapism and entertainment! I love the show and the movie and will see SATC 2. I do not take it seriously and do not want to live as they do. I enjoy the give and take of the women and the fashion. If it makes me shallow then I have lots of friends in that puddle with me!

By DeirdreCerasa on 05/12/2010 4:49 pm

Sex and the City started when I was too young, but I had friends who watched it. So about a year before the movie came out, I began to watch the show on DVD with my mom. It took us forever, and also it took us beyond the release date of the first film. Watching the show continuously never made me want to go out and buy new clothes, most of the fashions were clearly expensive, and I didn’t think it was worth the money. I mean maybe it’s great for the companies, but aren’t they also making money off of having their clothes in the film?
I really enjoyed the series, and I thought the film was alright, I’m looking forward to the second installment, but I hope that’s all.

By ailves on 05/12/2010 6:04 pm

I do not like these women and what they represent. If you want to watch something good, watch "The Good Wife.", powerful women and "Breaking Bad". Both fabulous. Stop watching these crazy women and who cares what they are wearing.

By LindyF on 05/13/2010 12:01 pm