- Hello my beautiful doves,
welcome or welcome back. My name is Mina, and today we're gonna be
talking about the controversial reboot of Sex and the City, also known as, And Just Like That, dot, dot, dot. - Dot, dot, dot. - What? - Dot, dot, dot. That's what
they did in the olden days. - Stop it! - Which, from this moment forward, I will be abbreviating as
SATC or AJLT respectively, because those two titles
are just a mouthful. Sex and the City was a show
that aired in the late nineties, up into the early 2000s, starring the lives of four
women in their thirties and forties: Carrie Bradshaw,
our main character, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, Miranda Hobbes, played by Cynthia Nixon, Samantha Jones, played by Kim Cattrall, and Charlotte York,
played by Kristin Davis. They all live in New York City
and we follow them through their day-to-day lives,
their various relationships, their insecurities, their
life-changing events, and even the mundane stuff. It was a beloved show that was known for its over-glamorization of Manhattan, its progressive view on
adult female friendships, and of course its fashion. So SATC has a major cult
following even to this day, and so there were a lot of
people who were vem- vehem- oh my God, vehemently, this is what happens when I
try to introduce new words into my vocab, vem- vehe- okay, whatever. They were very against this
reboot from the get go. And the reason being,
because we're missing a core member of our group
here, Samantha Jones. They explained in episode one
that Samantha had cut herself off from the group and moved
to London after some petty drama with Carrie that involved Carrie firing Samantha
from being her publicist. And that storyline did really
bother me because it just seemed very out of character
for Samantha to just end a decades-long friendship
over petty business drama. - We made a deal ages ago,
men, babies, doesn't matter. We're soulmates. - And on top of that, she
allegedly stopped talking to both Miranda and Charlotte, who had nothing to do with this drama, all because she didn't wanna
talk to Carrie anymore, which again seems very out of character. The explanation was crazy. - Where's Samantha? - Oh, she's no longer with us. - And for anyone who needs a
refresher on why I'm so heated about this characterization
is because Samantha Jones is arguably the most popular
character on the show. Or at least I like to think so, because she was my favorite character. - [Carrie] Samantha Jones
was a New York inspiration, a public relations executive. She routinely slept with good-looking guys in their twenties. - Is Hermes French for "We take
our good old fucking time?" Listen to me! The right
guy is an illusion. You understand that, you got
to start living your lives. - [Mina] Samantha was fun, eccentric, sexually adventurous, unconventional, and a self-made girl boss, all in one. - If I worried what
every bitch in New York was saying about me, I'd
never leave the house. - She was also in her forties, and so, you know, older than
the other women in the cast. And in the last episode, I
believe, of Sex and the City, she turned 50 years old. Please keep that in mind, everyone, Samantha was 50 at the show's end, but she was still cool
and youthful, going out, dating and hanging out
with younger people. In real life, the reason
why Kim decided to leave is allegedly because of all
this drama between her and Sarah Jessica off-screen. - The people from Sex and the City, and specifically Sarah
Jessica Parker, is that I think she could have been nicer. I really think she could have been nicer. I don't know what her issue is. - But, long story short,
Kim did not wanna sign on. And so they couldn't, you know, just replace her with another actress because she was so iconic as Samantha. And even though AJLT included
all these new characters who were all really great, there was no one who filled
the void that Samantha left. I assume it's because the
writers didn't wanna, like, clearly replace Samantha
by shoving in a character that has all the same attributes. - [Michael Patrick King]
It was very important to me that LTW sit down, but I didn't
want to tell the audience, one, two, three, four. She's the new Samantha. So I had Carrie and
Miranda get up and leave. - [Miranda] I should go, too. - [Michael Patrick King]
And she sits at the table. - But Samantha was the
modern woman of the group. Her unconventional, no-marriage lifestyle, and her openness to queerness
was very progressive in the nineties, but honestly
is not too crazy today. So I feel like more than ever in 2022, we deserve someone to carry
the torch of Samantha's values. But anyways, I don't wanna rant about Samantha this entire video because what's done is done. And Kim is obviously
happier somewhere else. So, yeah, let's move on, I just had to address
the elephant in the room because I love Samantha. So does everyone else. - How many sexual partners have you had? (phone rings) - I'm counting. Um, this year? - And now, after saying all that, I have to break the
shocking news to you all. I actually enjoyed the reboot. I know. I didn't expect to like it. I expected to hate it from the get go. I expected to hate watch it, but you know, it crept up on me. It, it did. It really did. It's definitely
not as good as SATC. And did I think the woke
stuff was a little cringey? Yes. Yes I did. - Woke moment. - But I think it's important to remember that these women are in their fifties. They're not, like, super up to date with the norms of society. Carrie still uses a
fricking landline phone. I don't know anyone who
uses a landline phone. (phone rings) - Who's calling on the landline? - And it makes sense
that they would blunder like any other white woman
in their fifties would, especially considering they
didn't have any friends of color before this show. - [Charlotte] I think it
would be silly to pretend that we haven't been what we've been, you know, for a long time. The Wexleys can't be the only
Black couple at the dinner. They're gonna think we don't
have any Black friends. - In a lot of ways, I
think what may seem obvious to gen Z and younger
millennials may not seem so obvious to older generations. For example, the whole,
like, pronouns thing. In the show, Charlotte's
child Rock doesn't come out, but is kind of, like, exploring
their gender identity, and they wanna be addressed as Rock. And they don't wanna be addressed as being a girl or as being a boy. And this is very new for Charlotte. And I think it's very new for a lot of parents who are in their fifties. So I think AJLT is able to
make these issues palatable to older generations and
also give them a space to learn alongside these characters. - This is a journey that
we are all on together. We are here for you and we
can recommend a therapist, support group, peer counseling,
whatever would help. - I'm also very attached
to the characters. Like, I am attached to the three of them. So I think 99% of the reason
why I enjoyed this show so much is because it was simply
a nostalgia indulgence. I think if I hadn't watched
the original show and I just threw myself into the world of AJLT, I would think the show is horrible. I would think it was
pretty fricking awful. You know what, fuck it,
speaking of nostalgia, let's get into the
fashion, which is I know what you all came to hear,
not my rant on Samantha. Molly Rogers and Danny Santiago did the costumes for the show. Molly Rogers worked
alongside Patricia Fields from the beginning as wardrobe supervisor, and she and Danny also worked together on the second Sex and the City film, which we will never talk
about because it was so racist and just objectively really, really bad. - [Carrie] And there in the middle of old Abu Dhabi was an old love: Aidan. - Molly and Danny clearly
know what the show's about, what the character's
about, having been there during the heyday of the run. I thought I'd include a
few little soundbites from the Dressed podcast that
they were interviewed on. During the interview,
Molly and Danny explained the individual styles of the main women, which I think can give us
a better understanding of how they understand the characters. Let's start with our MC Carrie Bradshaw. - [Danny] You know, Carrie, who we always sort of say is whimsical. She has her own style.
She dresses for herself. She loves fashion. She loves
to have fun with fashion. - [Molly] She's a
statement maker, for sure. - [Danny] She's high and low. She wears everything from vintage
to resale, to consignment, to designer, to runway
pieces, you name it, she falls in love with it, she's gonna wear it and
she's gonna wear it her way. - Carrie is the fashion girl of the group. (crowd gasps) - Half her looks are show stoppers, the other half just stop traffic. But the point is, she loves her
clothes, she loves shopping. - [Aidan] When and where were
you planning to wear this? - Don't do that. Don't mock the clothes. - She's very self-assured in her style. And you can tell that she
puts a lot of thought into what she's going to wear for the day. - [Carrie] And for the
record, have worn it. December '99, Union Square book signing. - In my opinion, the way
Carrie feels about her clothes is honestly refreshing
for this day and age when a lot of people just
like to replace their entire closets, like, out
with the old, in with the new. So I think it's very nice
and even respectable that Carrie remembers the event
she wore a specific dress to, and has this deep sense of
sentimentality for what she owns. I kind of wish we were all
like Carrie in that regard, because we would just be
taking so much better care of our clothes if we were. - That dog owes me $380! - Fine. - You can't buy it! It's circa 1996. - [Mina] Some of Carrie's
most memorable looks in SATC include her tutu skirt look that she wears in the intro sequence, which she kind of revives in
the first episode of AJLT, the Dior newspaper dress, which
she wears in season three, and that you can actually purchase for the low price of
$245,000 on first dibs. - That's some, like, rich
people shit, I don't know. - Her Vivienne Westwood wedding
gown from the SATC movie, this look with the Comme des
Garçons coat in season three, this Dior slip dress from season two, and of course, of course,
the massive Versace dress that once again, gets
screen time in the reboot. Carrie is experimental. She wears baggy clothes,
tight clothes, slip dresses, flower appliques and patterns,
and lots and lots of color, just to name a few elements. I also just love how in
AJLT, Molly and Danny chose some of her original pieces to include in this show as well. In the documentary that was released at the same time as the finale, they actually show you the
storage unit of SATC costumes that Sarah Jessica got to
keep, as per her contract. It's a literal dream. It
also just like makes sense canonically for Carrie to
hold onto her old clothes. In the original series, Carrie still had hoards of clothing that
she bought in the 1980s, so of course we would see glimpses of her 2000s wardrobe in 2022. Overall, I think they did a good job maintaining Carrie's style. It's definitely more aged. She's not wearing the tight silhouettes that she used to wear, or low cut skirts. Instead, she wears a lot of long, full skirts and chic blazers. She has a couple
crinoline moments as well. I really, really, really love this vintage Gaultier suit
they brought out for her. I love this bizarre smoking outfit with the head scarves, the
Batsheva dress and the gloves. I didn't really love the
Valentino tangerine dress she wore in the finale,
don't get me wrong, it's very Carrie to wear
a massive ball gown, but I never saw orange as Carrie's color and so found the whole
look kind of underwhelming, especially since we saw the Versace dress earlier this season. We also see the blue Manolo Blahnik shoes that Big re-proposed to her in, and she ends up re-wearing
them the night he dies, too. We love some good
foreshadowing through clothes. But with all that said, I also think there were a lot of clothing moments that were a little too old for Carrie. For instance, when she's
in the hospital bed, and she's wearing a layered pearl necklace and a Chanel cardigan, it just looks way too upper-east-side-grandma,
in my opinion. This is actually the one big issue I had with the costuming for Carrie as a whole. While I think they do a good job with maintaining Carrie's
tendency to over-accessorize, I think they were maybe a
little too over-conscious about making Carrie look older. Or maybe Sarah Jessica
just wasn't comfortable wearing some of the silhouettes
that she used to wear. I don't know, but can we please remember that Samantha was supposed to be 56 in the second Sex and the City movie, and she looks like this. And these ladies are supposed to be the same age that Samantha
was in this reboot, yet they look way more matronly,
way more tired, way older. Like, is this what happens
when Samantha leaves the group? Do they all just deflate? - Is that maybe a little young? - I don't know, exactly
how old do you think I am? And not that it matters,
but I am 50-fucking-two and I will rock this dress. - So, yeah, I would've
actually liked to see Carrie rocking some
midriff like she used to, exposing her shoulders like she used to. It doesn't have to be excessive, she doesn't have to be
wearing skimpy outfits, but it was just so clear that
they were trying to lower all her hemlines and
just cover her up more, which I don't think was really necessary. Okay. Now moving on to Charlotte. - Could you please not use
the F word in Vera Wang? - [Danny] We always say that Charlotte is sort of our uptown, - [Molly] Polished. - [Danny] Polished mom,
little cuffed sleeves, she's always got a cinched waist, she's got a very, sort of, almost like a 1950s type of silhouette,
in a way, to her. Like a little Coca-Cola bottle. She's always in the perfect
shoe with the perfect bag with the perfect belt
and the perfect hair. - That sounds about right, Charlotte is this polished
upper-east-side rich girl. She's always been more conservative talking about her sex life. - Well, I've never done a threesome. - [Samantha] Oh, come on,
of course you haven't. You want a threesome? You
won't even wear a thong. - She's more traditional
about her views on marriage, family and love. - [Carrie] Charlotte treated
marriage like a sorority she was desperately hoping to pledge. - And she's very wealthy.
Did I mention that already? She's also knowledgeable on art, thanks to her previous
career as an art gallerist. - That's Aleksandr Petrovsky
the artist, he is the for- - In the original show, Charlotte
wore a lot of headbands, heritage print, and logos
like Burberry check, and flared skirts. She has this feminine, floral, frilly, almost preppy element to her style. Pink is definitely her color, and there is this old Hollywood touch to a lot of her costumes,
which makes sense, especially because of her
love for Elizabeth Taylor. My favorite Charlotte costume moment was when she breaks out of her depressive rut and puts on this bubble gum pink, figure-hugging strapless stress
with oversized sunglasses. She looks just so gorgeous. Another favorite is Charlotte's
trashy lingerie moment. That was admittedly a
little out of character, but she was smoking, so, it's locked in the memory box for sure. In the reboot, we see
Charlotte staying in line with the essence of her personal style, though it feels a little
bit more secretarial. I don't know if I'm just saying that because of all the pussy bow blouses. She has a $480 Burberry bag
charm as a doggy bag dispenser, which I think is hilarious
and very Charlotte. I love that Charlotte is
not an athleisure mom. She's always dressed to the
nines wherever she's going, and I think that's very
in-character for her considering she's kind of a control freak. And overall, I think they did the best job dressing Charlotte,
because she didn't feel, like, as aged as Carrie and Miranda in terms of the way she dressed. The maturity shows up in how
her style is subtly tweaked. We see less pink and less headbands, but the elements are still there, like the cinched waist
and the romantic blouses. It's a believable and natural progression for Charlotte's style. I actually don't have too much to say about Charlotte for this season, because I feel like she didn't struggle as much as Miranda and Carrie. Charlotte seems to accept Rock's identity very readily, and doesn't
really throw as big a meltdown as I would expect a mom
to throw when your child decides to not go through
with the very expensive they-mitzvah that's been planned for them. She doesn't have any
marital issues either. - You still blow Harry? - Is he dying or something? - And yeah, she's just
the very perky Charlotte that we all know and love. Life's pretty good. - (chuckles) Charlotte's never
dropped a ball in her life. - Okay. Let's get to Miranda. Oh my God, Miranda. - [Danny] And then we've got Miranda. - [Molly] Who changed the most, I think, of all three of them. - [Danny] Yeah. - [Molly] And that was
fun to play with her, because you know, she
was a corporate lawyer. - [Danny] Yeah. - [Molly] In all the other
incarnations of the show, and this time she's going to school, so it was just a more
relaxed silhouette for her. - [Danny] But there's still
a tailoring involved to her, I feel like, you know, like. - [Molly] Yeah. - [Danny] I think we said, you know, people have asked, well, what's a, what would you say is her favorite piece, or what would you say coming
out of the series, what was a, a main piece of something that she wore? And we always say, it's
a tailored, softer look, it's a softer, tailored look
to her, and definitely pants. She looks great in pants.
We love her in a pant. - [Molly] She looks insane in jumpsuits. - [Mina] So as a recap,
Miranda in the original series was very strong-willed, she was pragmatic, she was a girl boss,
the only woman partner at her corporate law firm. She was making bank. She was also incredibly cynical and blunt. - [Miranda] You see,
this is why I don't date. The men out there are freaks. Oh, but forget it. I only
give head to get head. - [Mina] But deep down, she was sensitive and more romantic than
she'd like to admit. They completely rebooted
her character for the show. I'm not talking about the
whole sexuality thing, because I honestly think we
could have seen it all coming. But what tripped me up was, why would she quit her job
as a partner at a law firm that she worked her ass off to get, to become a student again? Like, I understand someone
would wanna make a career change in their fifties, like,
that's not unheard of, but it just doesn't seem
characteristic for Miranda to kind of drop out of
this prestigious role to start all over just because she was compelled by news stories. - [Miranda] It's ridiculous. I wanna enjoy my success,
not apologize for it. - [Samantha] Bravo, honey, bravo. - So it actually would've been
nicer for us, the audience, to be able to see her get to that point where she decides to leave her job, rather than to just dive into the series with her having already left her job. Like, maybe she falls in love with Che throughout the season, and it's through watching Che's activism and
how they use their platform that makes Miranda
consider what she's doing with her own life and how
she's contributing to society. I would also not have written in her giving up her internship
to fly off to LA with Che. And I know that the
writers understand that this is out of character for Miranda, hence why everyone is,
like, kind of shocked that Miranda would do this and how Miranda is even kind of shocked herself
that she wants to do this. - I, I, I, I, I passed up
my internship to be there. - The one you said was impossible to get? - That feels like judgment. - But I, I still don't buy it, mostly because I don't believe Che would respect Miranda for doing that. Oh, and that's another thing, like, I just don't see how Che
could fall for Miranda, like, at all. I could see Che liking
Miranda, the old Miranda, who was, you know, a girl
boss, and doing her own thing, and very independent and self-assured. But this new Miranda is, like, very needy, very low confidence. - Well, when did you DM me? - Like, three months ago. - Three months? Miranda, you
should have just DMed me again. Ask for what you want. - Very not assured in her
identity and her orientation. - [Che] Hiding is,
like, so five years ago, hiding isn't the key to anything. - In terms of Miranda's style, she also does, like, a whole 180. Miranda in the original show was known for her androgynous style. She wore suits, blazers and button-downs, but also balanced these masculine garments with more feminine dresses on nights out. One of my favorite outfits
of hers is actually when she wears this oversized puffer coat with denim overalls and a
baseball cap in season two. I also love this outfit she
wears in the same episode, it consists of an orange
turtleneck, Fendi coat and '60's-style white shades. This black dress from season
two, also chef's kiss. Season two was a good time, now that I'm, now that I'm thinking about it. Miranda's got style. It's a lot more understated than Carrie, but you can tell she dresses for her body. She knows what she looks good in, and she knows what her staples are, which is why I'm so confused
on why they put her in this flowy Bohemian vacation
wear for the reboot. Like, I kind of get that
they're trying to convey that Miranda is relaxing more, but is Miranda even really relaxing? I think it's pretty
stressful to drop your career in your fifties and
become a student again, and also to deal with
your crumbling marriage and your annoying son who
doesn't listen to you. Like, I feel Miranda's life
is actually pretty stressful, which is probably why she's
an alcoholic right now. - Two shots of vodka. - And realistically, I would expect her to
cling to what she knows, what she feels comfortable in, which are these stronger
tailored silhouettes that I would assume she would wear to also feel like she has things together. Because everything else in her
life is just out of control. So as for the other characters, I really liked them, as I said. We see some old character
favorites like Stanford, who continues to rock the
most colorful, most fun suits. I was really, really sad to hear that the actor who played him, Willie Gerson, passed away during the
filming of the show. - He came first, you know, he was the original gay
on the show, you know, and at that time,
sometimes there's only room for one gay character. We were gonna get to see their turbulent yet dependent and loving marriage. And it was, it was really,
really a tough thing, just losing him and not having him around. - God, I hate him. Come on. We're going over there. - Why? - Because you're in a tank top. - [Mina] Seema is also my
favorite of the new recruits, and her style is so chic,
so elegant, so affluent, but still understated,
not all over the place. It makes total sense for a character who has a very alluring,
but gentle demeanor. I noticed that all the side characters have their little style elements that they like to lean towards. So for Seema, it's her
silky smooth textures and her brown color palette. For LTW, it's her chunky
jewelry and voluminous sleeves, for Nya, it's her vibrant, warm colors and fun graphic patterns. And for Che, it's their
black-on-black color palette and touches of silver jewelry. And yes, before anyone says anything, it did make me feel a little weird that every side character introduced
was a person of color. But I also understand
that the SATC world is predominantly white and they
really, like, didn't need to introduce any more white characters. And personally, I think as
long as the POC characters get their own fleshed-out storylines, like, they're handled
as, like, actual people and not just as 'white girl's best friend' or 'white girl's love interest'
then it's totally fine. It's actually more
realistic in New York City for people to commingle with other people of all races, of all gender
orientations, et cetera, than to have this very
sanitized white, New York City, which was shown in the original show. - Gwen, hi, I haven't seen
you since Leo moved to Dalton. - I'm not Gwen, but I know
who you're talking about. - Even in a editing
process, people were like, I'm uncomfortable with that. And I called up Kelly
and I was like, Kelly, why is that in the show again? Just remind me, just
remind me why we put it in. She goes, "Because every
dinner party I go to where there's white people, they always think I'm the
other fancy Black writer." - We're definitely still
toeing the line with the side characters not having the most fleshed-out storylines, but I'm hoping that if the
series does get renewed for a second season, that we'll see a lot more of Seema, Nya, LTW and Che's personal stories that are not so connected
to the core three. I keep wanting to say the core four. Overall, I thought the show
had a lot of potential. I did have my qualms with
some of the plot points. Like, I would've liked
to see what happened when Miranda went to Cleveland. Like, that kind of just
ended up going nowhere. I wanna know what's happening with Steve. I wanna know if Steve is
still working with Aidan. I kind of wish that the
whole Samantha storyline ended differently, like, you know how they would do montages at the end of the episodes
in the original SATC? Like, I would've liked to have had a montage where you kind of
see the back of Samantha's head talking to Carrie over drinks when they're in Paris together, that would've been just,
like, a nice touch. I was also talking to my
friend Mi-anne about the show and what she said was,
I think, really great, and a good explanation for why Samantha cut herself off from the group. I would've liked to have seen
Samantha respond to Carrie with a text being like, "It wasn't just the publicist thing." Like, that was kind of the final straw. I would've liked for Samantha
to kind of go into this rant about how Carrie has
always been very selfish. I think this is something
that the audience knows and that maybe the writers
or the producers don't know, I don't know, 'cause they
never really address it. At least with Charlotte,
they do call her out on her bullshit sometimes. - I didn't call you because
you get so emotional. - It's because I cried
at the funeral home. - Because you're crying now. - But for Carrie, they
don't really do that. And it would've been nice for Samantha to call Carrie out on her
bullshit and be like, "You're very self-absorbed and I couldn't be friends with you anymore." And that would've made more sense. And that, I think, would've triggered a new character development
journey for Carrie where she learns to kind
of prioritize other people, and yeah, to once again,
not be so self-absorbed. - I've listened to you
talk about Aidan for what, 10 blocks and two years? And I've been a wonderful audience, and I ask you about my Marcus, and all I get is, "Nice"? - [Mina] I'm also just nostalgic for the old show format
where every episode was more day-in-the-life and
had a specific theme to explore you know, threesomes or 20
year-olds in New York City. This new format is way more
modern and reflective of other shows that are showing right now. The episodes are longer,
they're more dramatic. And I understand, I understand
why people would like this formula, why HBO likes this formula. But I don't know, I
thought, for this season, there was just too much drama. I, I missed the lightheartedness
of the original show. - [Miranda] Why don't you
just get an automatic? - [Carrie] I love this car.
It goes with my outfit. - And because 99% of the viewers
who were watching this show watched and loved the original show, I think most of us wouldn't
mind if they went back to this old show format that
was way more whimsical. And just like that, we've reached the end of our costume-slash-show review. Yeah. Thank you all for sticking around. Let me, let me know in the comments, what you think about this show, what you think about SATC in general, what you think about the costumes too? I'm curious to hear what
you all think about that because I know it was definitely
polarizing on Twitter, but I honestly didn't think
they did a terrible job. So, so yeah. Thanks for joining me. I hope you have a lovely rest of your day and I'll see you next time. Bye-bye. (gentle piano music)
