So, unless you’ve been living in an isolated cell for the past year, you will most likely be overly familiar with the film du jour: “Sex and the City: The Movie”. I’m still undecided on whether or not I’m inclined to pay the extortionate cinema entrance fee to see a film which a) I’ve already got the main gist of from all the spoilers and much criticised over-generous trailer and b) will cause me to be the recipient of much eye rolling and sneers from my male friends who unanimously cannot bear Carrie (or Horse Face as she is better known) et al.
However, there is of course a certain (quite large and overwhelming) part of me that is intrigued by the whole affair. No, intrigued is the wrong word. Unlike some, I am in no way desperate to know “How It Will End”. I couldn’t care less whether Carrie marries Big or if Charlotte manages to conceive or if Samantha, um, finally realises her age. Quite simply, I want to spend two hours staring and scrutinising the clothes and charmed lives of four fictitious women. Because fictitious is, as you would hope everyone knows, what these CHARACTERS are. But I’m not sure everyone is fully aware that this gang of forty-something women and their unrealistic, largely unachievable and inimitable lives are purely the creations of Candace Bushnell and that bloke who wrote the script (someone else can Google him). On watching the London Premier on TV the other day, I was struck by the way Gok Wan referred to Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie. And, in the words of the famous newspaper columnist herself, I got to thinking whether people haven’t confused the character and actress for the same person.
For a long time, since I became aware that SJP was lauded as a style icon and became a permanent fixture on the best dressed lists, I have wondered if people actually think she’s Carrie, her more fashion forward counterpart. I have never been blown away by SJP’s personal style; often papped wearing combats and T-shirts or a tried and tested strapless red carpet gown, I just don’t understand what all the fuss is about. Carrie on the other hand, has worn outfits that have the ability to rouse admiration, envy and embarassment (and often all three at the same time) in style hungry young women. And the credit for creating these reactions and for propelling Carrie/SJP into the fashion hall of fame is surely the stylist – Patricia Field, not the character and definitely not the actress.
Am I missing something here? Is SJP really as well dressed and as stylish as magazines make her out to be? Or are the editors responsible, (as we must remember it is not SJP that has labelled herself a style icon, but those that put her on the pages we read) for lauding SJP’s style getting her confused with her on screen persona? I’m confused.
