Praise be! All hail the glorious and intelligent styling of some of the most influential women on our screens.
There has been some most excellent styling on the telly recently, with the clothes adding to the narrative of the characters, what they convey about the personalities and where they are in their lives. Specifically, I mean Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda in ‘And Just Like That’ and Shiv Roy in ‘Succession’.
Like many other ladies of a certain age – or other – I eagerly tuned in to watch ‘And Just Like That’, hoping beyond hope that it would be significantly better than the terrible films (it is) and maybe even, if I dared to dream, that it would be as good as the original ‘Sex and the City’ (it is not).
Now, this isn’t a commentary on the reboot. I’m not going to mention Miranda’s not-so-discreet alcoholism or the pre-occupation with her grey hair in the first episode (in my opinion, way better than the ‘helmet head’ of the original) or even the tragic situation of Kristin Davis’ face. (Why?! She is so pretty! I simply do not get why people do this to themselves…)
This is a celebration of women in their fifties wearing really good clothes. I mean, the clothes, along with the cocktails and the sex (but mainly the clothes) have long been the other stars of the show, alongside the lives and loves of the four women. And, thankfully, this hasn’t diminished (unlike the sharp dialogue).
For me, Carrie has always nailed it. I love the unexpected combination of clothes she/the show’s stylist put together. A particular favourite of the new season: in episode 3, the bum bag worn across her chest with the tulle shirt with the epic sleeves over the diamante-encrusted sheer top underneath. This is style fearlessness at its finest. And that’s another characteristic Carrie has always displayed – striking proportions and layering. The epic tulle skirt in episode 4 which practically fills the shop, worn with a reasonably sloppy-joe jumper, but tucked in to give shape. The long-line jackets – there are lots of them – over a series of dresses, with contrasting textures and different lengths of necklaces. It all screams confidence, where inside I think she is more vulnerable than her clothes suggest and this look (maybe even this armour) totally works for her.
It’s also the wonderful colour palette she rocks in the second episode: the muted pink jacket and the cream dress, soft against the harshness of her grief hairstyle. The pink in the jacket is also picked up on Charlotte’s belt, conveying (I think) empathy. And this is where colour gets interesting. Instead of donning grey or black, as would be customary given her situation, she goes for a dignified and elegant neutral palette, suppressed and discreet along with her demeanour. And then she wears pink again in Stalking Natasha part 2 to a very different effect, possibly trying to come across as pretty and unthreatening when, obviously, her behaviour is once again obsessive and almost threatening as a result.
Effortless Eclectic Dressing is still what Carrie is channelling in this sequel. She has always experimented with styles and made what shouldn’t work really work, and this has evolved now she’s in her fifties and utterly works. She has always revelled in the joy clothes can bring and she is still doing it. Clothes make her feel good about herself, make her project a powerful image, and are a delightful way of expressing herself. They give her a strength and sense of control that she may not feel she has in other areas of life. All at HER AGE! Imagine! And this is why this show is important. Women in this age bracket are not usually seen to celebrate or be celebrated in this way. Whatever you think of their styles, these three characters still love their clothes and what the wearing of them brings to them.
With Charlotte, I feel they have kept her exactly where she was, wearing her princess prom dresses in pastel colours. And that’s exactly right too. Charlotte is still a princess (don’t mention the face, DON’T mention the face…), favouring the fragrant Lilly and perplexed by the gender-questioning Rose. She is utterly feminine, thoroughly conventional, so very prim and would never consider scaring the horses; her wardrobe as a fifty-something is a befitting progression of her 20s/30s’ self. Although was Charlotte ever really anything less than fifty, at least attitudinally...? It’s not my style, but she looks good and always pretty, which seems to be the brief.
It’s Miranda’s wardrobe that I struggle with a little. When I watch the series, I quite like some of the outfits, the colours, the different styles, but I just can’t remember them when I’m not watching. It’s like they’ve made her stylishly a bit invisible. And I’m wondering if that’s the point. She seems to be being tee-d up to be Going Through Some Stuff (no more on this, so no spoilers) so maybe the producers need her to not stick out by being badly dressed but to recede into the background so that her issues can take front stage. Perhaps.
Which is totally the opposite of Shiv. Her aggressive styling was right, front and centre the entire season. So very ‘Do Not Fuck With Me/I can compete with the men’, which got progressively more and more unforgiving and, at times, unflattering.
In the first two seasons she is beautifully dressed, in tones that utterly complement her colouring and body shape. Plenty of creams and apricots and russets and the subtle variations in between – the silk shirts, the high-waisted trousers that made her a style icon. But in Season 3, where she’s been lured into The Firm with empty promises of high office, she dons the hallmarks of Successful Men Uniform and it doesn’t work. There are a lot of trouser suits suddenly, which seem to start reasonably fluid and in an array of her favourite hues but then get progressively heavier. And she starts to act colder. And meaner. The outfit for me that epitomises the start of this new era is the wide pinstripe trouser suit at the shareholder meeting. But at least this is in a characteristic biscuit, which is easier on the eye than the harsh Billy-Big-Bollocks navy chalk-pinstripe she wears later which has imprinted itself forever on my memory. The polo-necks underneath the manly suits, then the beige three-piece suit with the polo-neck into which she looks so crammed and so uncomfortable. It’s like they are force-fitting her into something that doesn’t fit. Oh, and so they are. The clothes are utter symbols.
When in Italy, there is a complete change and it’s back to tight body-skimming dresses to accentuate her amazing Venus-like figure. But also, I thought, to constrain it and in really unflattering patterns. Maybe this was to draw attention to her, not to blend her in as she was in New York. In Europe, she is not one of the men, as becomes very clear.
It’s fascinating what clothes and styling can say about characters, what they are trying to convey and how we are meant to view them. I love the way the clothes on these four women I’ve mentioned have added extra layers to their characterisation and storylines. The starkest contrast being between Shiv and her cold unfeelingness and Carrie who, quite literally, wears her heart on her sleeve. And it cannot go unnoticed how these women are probably some of the most talked-about characters of recent months. In ‘And Just Like That’ the fifty-something women have had their styles sensitively evolved, blazing new trails again; in fact, like the original. And that, as I will reiterate, IS important.
* All views are my own, I read no articles on this subject before writing.
