Carrie Dragshaw Will Be Your New Instagram Obsession

Maggie Parker
Carrie Bradshaw's style is unique. Carrie Dragshaw's doing his best to copy it.
Carrie Bradshaw’s style is unique. Carrie Dragshaw’s doing his best to copy it. (Photo: Tumblr)

Sex and the City might have ended in 2004 (2010 if you count the movies), but Carrie Bradshaw’s iconic style will live on forever, thanks in part to Dan Clay, better know as Carrie Dragshaw.

Clay has developed quite a following on Instagram over the last few months recreating some of the character’s most memorable looks. Not only does he dress up as her; he also writes lengthy captions in her voice. And they are so dead on, you can hear her voice as you read them.

“It started simply as a little Halloween costume. The Saturday of Halloween, my friend and I went around the West Village taking some pictures, just having fun,” Clay tells Yahoo Style.

His first Bradshaw reincarnation was her signature tutu look.

"Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. Maybe they just need to run free until they find someone just as wild to run with them." I have wanted to be Carrie Bradshaw for Halloween ever since college, when I had HBO in my frat room and girls would come over and watch Sex and the City on Sundays and I would pretend that I hated it because I didn't want to give myself away. Well, the secret's out, and this is the happiest day of my life. @sarahjessicaparker sending you more love than you could even imagine ❤️ #carriedragshaw

A photo posted by Dan Clay (@dan_clay) on Oct 29, 2016 at 1:36pm PDT

“I posted the first picture for my friends, but I also went off ‘private’ because I had what I thought was an unrealistic fantasy that possibly Sarah Jessica Parker might see it and have a laugh,” he adds. Well, it turns out his fantasy wasn’t all that unrealistic. “That picture ended up getting a lot of really positive attention, getting reposted, getting a comment from SJP herself. I loved it, and I’ve always been a huge huge fan of Sex and the City (even more as I’ve gotten older and realized just how true so much of it is!),” he gushes.

If you need me I'll be dead. A few questions: Do I ever take this tutu off? Is this my career now? Is my past like an anchor holding me back and I need to let go of who I was to become who I will be? @sarahjessicaparker you could teach a Learning Annex seminar on how to bring kindness and love to the world ❤️

A photo posted by Dan Clay (@dan_clay) on Oct 31, 2016 at 5:36am PDT

The positive reinforcement gave him the courage to keep going, and that’s how Carrie Dragshaw was born. Now, he posts recreations of her looks regularly.

The business school grad and strategy/innovation consultant had no plans to go into drag. “Instagram drag was never really part of the plan. But it’s making people smile, and the world isn’t all smiles right now, so I’ll keep it up,” he promises.

One of the best looks so far has to be his version of Bradshaw on the phone in her purple bra, tights and skirt — a look only Bradshaw could pull off. But the caption takes it to the next level. “It can be hard out there for a single girl, but there are a few words that provide instant comfort: ‘Vogue September Issue,’ ‘2-for-1 Cosmopolitans,’ ‘Manolo Blahnik Sample Sale,’ and ‘Perfect First Date Follow-Up.’ PFDFU,” Clay…we mean Dragshaw wrote. “It’s flirty and funny. Easy, breezy, and cool. He’s clearly into it and you’re like a pair of purple control top pantyhose: fun and holding it all together.”

It can be hard out there for a single girl, but there are a few words that provide instant comfort: “Vogue September Issue,” “2-for-1 Cosmopolitans,” “Manolo Blahnik Sample Sale,” and “Perfect First Date Follow-Up.” PFDFU. It's flirty and funny. Easy, breezy, and cool. He's clearly into it and you're like a pair of purple control top pantyhose: fun and holding it all together. It takes you right back to that perfect first date, when the conversation flowed effortlessly, the spark lit instantly, and the first kiss felt like fate. As you flirt on the phone, you float on a cloud that seems to sparkle from the inside, and for a moment you forget your baggage, you forget your past, you forget how many times you’ve felt this feeling before but it failed to last…and you smile. I couldn't help but wonder: Maybe love is like a mobile phone. When you have a good connection, you’ve just got to keep talking and hope for the best. #CarrieDragshaw

A photo posted by Dan Clay (@dan_clay) on Dec 19, 2016 at 4:59am PST

Damn. Dragshaw might be even more insightful than Bradshaw! Or, better yet, he’s filling the void Bradshaw left, perfectly nailing what so many single New Yorkers feel.

To become Carrie Dragshaw, Clay rustles through Amazon and vintage stores. “Thank god for Amazon, eBay, and vintage shops,” he says. “I have a bunch of favorite outfit pictures on my phone, so I’m just always casually, in the background on the hunt.” Right now he’s looking for one dress in particular. “If anyone can help me find this green Versace, I’ll be forever indebted,” he begged. That’s the one Bradshaw so gracefully laid down in waiting for Aleksandr Petrovsky during her stint in Paris. We would love to see Dragshaw’s version of this classic Carrie look, so fingers crossed he finds it.

Of course, he can’t always get the exact same item, he just has to find a good enough lookalike. “I’ve found that symmetry and attention to detail is the most important! It doesn’t have to be a perfect fabric match, just has to follow the same lines and catch the right vibe.”

Clay’s alter ego has been such a success that it was featured on another blossoming Sex and the City dedicated Instagram account, @everyoutfitonsatc, which digs up all the characters’ crazy clothing creations and provides commentary. They shared Clay in Bradshaw’s Dior look from season two episode 18.

*CRUCIAL GUEST POST* Today we have a very important contribution from our muse @dan_clay, whose pitch-perfect #CarrieDragshaw persona is basically our reason for living. We're obsessed w/ his interpretation of Carrie's minimal #Dior look from S2/EP18, read on for more magic from this prolific genius….. ________________________________________________________ In New York, if you want to know how the other half lives, you head to the Plaza—the hotel where Chanel got tea, Gatsby got mad, Sinatra got applause…and Big got away. As he drove off with his perfectly simple fiancé, I started thinking about My Other Half. What happens to the girls who never find theirs? Was my heart a half-empty hotel, with a “Big Vacancy” sign on the revolving door? I couldn’t help but wonder: Did some women need to tone down to settle down? Change their shape to find a match, change their soul to find a mate? Or could it be that life isn’t about searching for someone who makes you complete—it’s about realizing you already are. And maybe, just maybe, we’re born with the love we’re meant to find. And if the world says tone it down—turn it up. Because your true other half knows you’re already whole. #CarrieDragshaw

A photo posted by Every outfit on Sex & the City (@everyoutfitonsatc) on Dec 19, 2016 at 12:44pm PST

If you’re looking for a laugh, don’t binge watch old episodes of SATC — scroll through your Instagram feed instead.

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