ICONOGRAPHY: Carrie Bradshaw
The woman who taught us all we need to know about dressing for the occasion. If Vogue feeds you more than food, her character certainly quenches your thirst for all things independence, womanhood, and fashion.
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Big wavy hair bouncing down the streets of NYC, and the comforting yet exploratory tone, we find all too familiar. What is the lore that makes many of us feel like Carrie Bradshaw in our own right. She’s a journalist, a brilliant writer, a fashion icon, and has single handedly made every freshly 21 year old choose the Cosmopolitan as their outing to the cocktail world. Something about her shameless exploration of the city she inhabits and its parallels to her own personal life of twists and turns makes her aspirational, but also so relatable.
Carrie Bradshaw, not only did as she felt, but dressed as she felt quite literally. Allowing her outfits to reflect major decisions and events in her life. We are able to match her visuals to the empathy we carried for her whether that was through the Carrie Diaries or through Sex and the City. Her conversations with herself are like conversations with us in the same way that each outfit was a bookmark for where we left off. Like wearing an off-white silk dress with the softest of silhouettes to ask Mr. Big why he didn’t pick her for the rest of their lives. The irony of wearing a dress that’s just a couple shades away from the color of a wedding dress, with a material of what could have been worn the night after the wedding, in a silhouette that is just as soft as how she must have been feeling emotionally. A silhouette that lays loosely on her figure, while still hugging it in the most flattering way, almost to say through the dress alone: I’m guarded, but still soft for you. Or in her younger years, before there was sex and before there was the city, wearing a poofy, bedazzled short dress with balloon sleeves, an updo and a new beau to the prom. Not only did the new boyfriend make a statement, but the dress was just as attention catching, with the light hues of blue, silver, and jewels catching the light. The updo, just as out of the ordinary as the new things and people in her life.
Not to mention, through her personal character development and the dynamics built through the friends she has around her from adolescence to adulthood, it’s understood what her character does: adds the color. She is everything and everyone in one. She is consistently either dressed in colors bright and loud, or toned down with something making just enough of a statement to show that she knows what she's doing and she’s doing it right. While all of her friends (in both shows) dress for their personality, Carrie dresses for a new one for each event. If all of the girls of Sex and the City are opting for big dressy coats with fur accents, as they make their way to a post breakup ball game, Carrie’s coat is big and made entirely of fur in a softer color. Something of a security blanket to shield her, her big tan fur made her look like a lioness despite feeling like prey. Always dressing to say, “I’m here and will be seen,” as opposed to, “I’m here, look at me!” She is the essence of what every young woman, man or anyone in between wants to be, the epitome of calling attention without even intending to. Doing the most, on purpose, but making it seem and feel effortless and strategic.
But as much as we know Carrie for her fashion and it’s reflection of her life she’s known not just for her fashion choices and ability to bring us along for the ride, but also for the way she moves through her city and life the same. Not just in her navigation of it all, but through the stride in her step. There is a Carrie walk, one that is excited, fast paced, and still in complete awareness of things happening around her. Less in a careful way, and more in a “what’s next?” kind of way. One that’s ready for anything new; a new beau, a new dress, or even a new idea. One that makes it seem like she sees the city entirely through a lens that only she can see, and it’s one that she’s clued us and only us in on. Each new piece for her column reading as a narration for her life is enough to have us all hooked on all things Carrie but her role in each event speaks to a certain kind of essence that everyone wants to have. Things in her life happen in a rhythm that she dances to, even if the song is sad. She’s become an icon in her own right not just in her world, but in anyone who’s watched any of the shows her character is in. Each choice she’s made is one we watched in awe, even if it was a mistake, because at least her chaos was beautiful, in the same way a messy closet of new clothes is overwhelming in the best way. Carrie Bradshaw made herself the example shamelessly, which in turn really made her the blueprint. Making every outfit, choice and life event feel like an extensive piece of art, or a complex novel; Intentional, deliberate, purposeful, but only for you and those that get it. And trust us Carrie, we got it.