SJP, BUT SERIOUSLY

SARAH JESSICA PARKER talks fashion journeys on and off screen, shoes and style faux pas.

White tutu. Dirty blonde curls. Pink tank top. Leopard Jimmy Choo heels. Then whoosh - a bus passes by, leaving her outfit wet and W dotted with droplets of puddle water. This kinetic scene became the contemporary symbol of New York City and its pitch-perfect heroine, Carrie Bradshaw, in the face of the incomparable Sarah Jessica Parker, an avatar for style protagonistas the world over and their Manhattan dreams. Parker's fashiony vibe had Upper East Siders swiping the shelves of Manolo Blahnik boutiques clean and raiding the showrooms of New York designers. After four seasons, two films and now a new HBO series, Bradshaw and Parker's bravado and influence continue to be unwavering.

Premiering in mid-1998, Sex and the City” arrived an instant classic as the fresh-faced, impulsive and indulgent Carrie brought a new way of looking at sex and relationships to the masses. Its wit and candour resonated with women in their twenties and thirties, while inspiring them with its fairy-tale-meets-reality trope; indulging in Carrie’s delicious frivolity and the often-stinging reckonings was a right of passage for many. Few can forget the first time their AmEx was cut in front of them at a Dolce Gabbana boutique. And the fashion! Remember the bright-green Juicy Couture dress Bradshaw paired with a massive blue Hermes bag in the second season? The handbag, which turned out to be fake, was meant to mask Parker’s pregnancy in the scene.

“(It] had one job to do and did it very poorly,” she once said. Or the naked” DKNY dress she wore to pose for the ad that appeared on the infamous bus from the opening credits. It is Carrie at that moment, but I don’t think it’s entirely Carrie.”