How Carrie Bradshaw’s Sex and the City tutu became a $50,000 piece of costume history
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For many women all around the world, the theme tune and opening credits of the original Sex and the City series offer a pure hit of nostalgia.
It’s where we got our first glimpse of Carrie Bradshaw crossing a New York City street – before being splashed by a passing bus. On the side of said bus is an ad for her newspaper column, with the words, “Carrie Bradshaw knows good sex… And isn’t afraid to ask”.
The character, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, wears a tight pink tank top, and a mini tutu in the sequence. That three-tiered tulle skirt has now been sold for $50,000 at Beverly Hills auction house Julien’s as part of its Unstoppable: Signature Styles of Iconic Women in Fashion auction, far surpassing its $8,000-$12,000 estimate.
Now a piece of TV history, the ensemble was dreamed up by Patricia Field, costume designer for the show which ran from 1997 until 2004 – Field herself is a New York fashion institution and the reason that the HBO series became as famous for its style as it was for the then-boundary-pushing conversations about sex and relationships.
On a certificate verifying the authenticity of the skirt, Field reveals that she found it in a bargain bin: “We were preparing to shoot the opening credits and I was in a [Garment District] showroom and pulled out this tulle skirt that was in a basket for five dollars.
“I showed it to Sarah Jessica and she loved it, although some people on the show didn’t get it right away. We ended up shooting three different outfit options for the opening, but this was by far the most original concept. So between me and Sarah Jessica’s campaigning, in the end this tutu was chosen.”
The oyster white skirt, which has a 23in waist, 16in length, satin waistband and a Spandex lining, is one of five in existence; another is owned by Parker, and another by Michael Patrick King, the show’s director, writer and executive producer.
Speaking to Vogue in 2022, Parker explained the reason why there are so many: “When you’re doing a scene where you’re getting splashed… you have to find something that has multiples. But it can’t just simply be multiples, it has to be artistically, sartorially… It has to fit a lot of criteria. Pat and I, as we always did, talked about a bunch of choices, and at the end of the day, this is where we landed. Tank top, tutu and heels.”
Ultimately, they didn’t need to use them all. “I think we got it done probably in one or two takes,” Parker says. The skirt made a cameo appearance in the 2008 Sex and the City film, when Carrie is having a wardrobe clear-out. Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda vote that she should keep it, naturally.
In fact, it was the skirt’s timelessness that was most appealing to Field in the first place. Another of the options was a Marc Jacobs dress from the spring/summer 1998 collection, which had been modelled on the catwalk by Kate Moss. In a canny move that seemed to anticipate the show’s phenomenal success, Field was in favour of a look that was less likely to date.
That success also means that the skirt is imbued with cultural value, too: “It’s perhaps the most iconic look in a series full of iconic looks, because it’s the one outfit we see every time we watch the show,” says Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, author of Sex and the City and Us, and a new book, So Fetch: The Making of Mean Girls.
“It immediately defined Carrie as different and special in terms of her wardrobe choices. And it was unlike any look we’ve seen on any other similar character.”
Sex and the City memorabilia has a history of fetching high prices at auction. In 2013, a newspaper print minidress from John Galliano’s tenure at Dior, worn by Carrie in season three, was sold by Bonhams for €15,300, far surpassing the €800 estimate.
Julien’s Auctions once sold a silk robe worn by Carrie in the show for $2240 ($500-800 estimate), and as a signed cast photo for $1170 ($200-300 estimate). And when Sotheby’s listed the infamous taxidermied bird of paradise headpiece from the 1800s, worn by Carrie with her Vivienne Westwood wedding gown in the first Sex and the City film, the estimate was $40,000-70,000 (£31,000-£55,000)
While Carrie’s skirt sold for $50,000, finding a more affordable alternative shouldn’t be too hard – ‘balletcore’ is set to be a major trend for the coming season. All you’ll need to complete the homage to Ms Bradshaw is a cosmopolitan – just try not to spill it on your tutu.
