In Sex and the City, Carrie was a beautiful, effortless mess. While trying to maneuver her unattainable lifestyle in the city — with a closet full of expensive designer shoes and no money for a down payment — her chaotic love life going back and forth between Aidan, Mr. Big, and all the other lovers, and spending most of her time discussing the details over brunch with her girlfriends (and somehow finding time to work too), she managed to pull off outfits that, at times, looked like they didn’t belong together — yet they just worked, with flair.

In the first episode of And Just Like That, we are reintroduced to the beloved characters from HBO’s Sex and the City: Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker; Miranda Hobbes, played by Cynthia Nixon; and Charlotte York, played by Kristin Davis, as they are having one of their classic fancy brunches in New York City.

Carrie wears a beige jumpsuit, a floral black satin jacket, golden and turquoise bags, and a straw pillbox hat with a red feather. She reads the menu with large square glasses while chatting with her girlfriends about Miranda’s son’s sexual awakening, Charlotte’s daughter’s piano recital, and hair. Miranda, with her signature short bob — only now it is grey — accuses Charlotte, who dyes her hair, of trying to “pass” for younger than her 55 years.

Charlotte tries to defend herself by saying that Carrie dyes her hair too. Miranda says that Carrie’s dye job is obvious.
“But obvious in a good way, right?” asks Carrie.
“This kind of obvious,” she adds, “it don’t come cheap.”

Now a successful writer in her 50s, Carrie finds herself embracing the world of podcasting as a platform to share her thoughts and musings on aging, relationships, and everything in between. She is still undeniably fashionable and daring in her ensemble choices, but her signature nonchalant, curly, and slightly frizzy hair has become wavy and sprayed with discipline, and her outfits are noticeably more refined and intentional.

Carrie lives in a fancy home in the city. She’s married to the love of her life, Mr. Big, and has a closet full of her babies: designer shoes. She has the perfect life and the perfect style. Perhaps… a little too perfect.

Getting ready for Lily’s (Charlotte’s daughter) piano recital, she wears a flowy silk white blouse, a structured white blazer, and a midi silky teal skirt. She accessorizes the blazer with a blue rosette, in an ode to her signature rosette style that she wore in several outfits — including the purple rosette over an effortless white tank, pink pants, and the iconic Dior saddle bag in Sex and the City.

To finish the look, Carrie wears the iconic “meaningful occasions” Hangisi blue Manolo Blahniks that Mr. Big proposed to her with — and that she wore to marry him — signaling a new, imminent change in her life: Mr. Big’s death.

Throughout the first few episodes of season one, Carrie continues to channel more sleek hairstyles and monochromatic looks. The white midi dress with subtle golden stripes paired with a long baby pink trench coat, which she wore while looking for a venue for Big’s funeral, and the one-shoulder midi dress with an ivory blazer for a first date after Big’s death, are much more muted than Carrie’s usual contrasting style, reflecting the grief over her husband.

In another ode to Carrie’s fashion from Sex and the City, she wears the signature tutu skirt with a colorful striped t-shirt as she goes back to her old apartment. But while all these iconic elements continue to be present in Carrie’s style in And Just Like That, they are styled with a new sophistication and less spontaneity.

That said, Carrie did serve multiple extraordinary outfits in true Carrie Bradshaw fashion — like the time she wore the vintage 80s Norma Kamali madras blazer and matching jumpsuit in episode four, or when she started smoking again and wore multiple scarves and purple latex gloves, as she didn’t want her clothes to stink of cigarettes, which was a refreshing reminder of her humorous style.

Even with the outfit she wore for Mr. Big’s funeral — a puffy knee-length skirt, black top, black headpiece, white heels, and minimal pearl accessories — she “served a look,” as her friend Stanford, played by Willie Garson, called it, in a balanced yet phenomenal grieving widow way.

Her most memorable fashion moment comes in the season finale, on the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris, where she and Mr. Big professed their love to each other for the first time in Sex and the City, as she scatters his ashes. She dazzles in an extravagant neon-orange Valentino Couture ball gown, fuchsia gloves, and the Timmy Woods Eiffel Tower bag.

While all these changes in Carrie’s style in And Just Like That might align with her character’s progression of age, her attempts to catch up with the modern world, her new wealth, and her status as a widow, I couldn’t help but wonder… whether, with the lost frizz in her hair, a little bit of the charm was lost too.

*Photo credit: Warner Bros