Some fans are Charlotte York, a proper and classical Jackie O-esque fashionable First Lady. Other fans are like Miranda Hobbes, sophisticated yet casual. Then, there are the fans who are like Carrie Bradshaw, the shoe lover. But very few are the daring Samantha Jones (played by Kim Cattrall), who wears bold prints that would normally clash. Samantha’s fashion choices are just as brazen as her. The rules of fashion are not applicable to her closet. In fact, her outfits throughout the Sex and the City franchise are what make her one of the most fashionable on the show.
Fashion icon Iris Afpel once said, “Fashion you can buy, but style you possess. The key to style is learning who you are, which takes years. There’s no how-to road map to style. It’s about self-expression and, above all, attitude.” While Afpel was referring to style on a larger scale, Samantha embodies these words of fashion wisdom. From her furs to her spaghetti strap dresses, everything Samantha wears demands attention. Here are her best fashion moments in Sex and the City.
10/10 Matching with Miley Cyrus
When Samantha’s ex-boyfriend Smith needed a date for his movie premiere, Samantha volunteered her services. Before the premiere, she went dress shopping with Carrie and found a silver strapless cocktail dress with a sweetheart neckline. However, upon purchasing the dress, a store associate commented Samantha was “too old.” which was just the beginning of the criticism. At the premiere, singer Miley Cyrus showed up in the same outfit, save some accessories, where Miley complimented Samantha’s outfit.
9/10 Red Bridesmaid’s Dress
Even though Carrie’s Vivienne Westwood wedding gown was the star of the wedding in Sex and the City: The Movie, the bridesmaids dresses were just as fabulous. Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha wore floor-length mermaid-style dresses in different colors: navy blue, black, and red, respectively. Although wearing red to a wedding is a faux pas as it distracts from the bride, as Brides explains, the person wearing red in this case isn’t one for convention. Samantha wearing a red dress as the maid of honor doesn’t distract from Carrie, but highlights the extravagance of her designer wedding gown.
8/10 Halter Punk Print Outfit
While Sex and the City documents each woman’s romantic escapades, Carrie’s are the main focus. But as she often chooses emotionally distant men, she relies on her friends to pick her back up. One instance in particular, her boyfriend breaks up with her using a Post-It note. To cheer her up, the girls take Carrie to a club for a night out. In true early-2000s fashion style, Samantha wears a halter top with a deep V-neck that is laced up just below the bust. The halter also features a punk band and their logo as the print.
7/10 Revenge Outfit
According to Reader’s Digest, the revenge dress worn by the late Princess Diana became so iconic because she wore the dress in response to her ex-husband’s admission to having an affair. But Samantha, having been betrayed by Richard, made a much bigger statement. Wearing denim, a leather jacket, a sequined purple shirt, and a rhinestoned leather satchel, she walked around Richard’s neighborhood throwing bright pink flyers in the air with his photo and the words “cheater” and “liar” written in all capital letters.
6/10 Something Blue and Something Plunging
As Samantha proved over and over again, subtlety is not in her vernacular, nor does it hang in her closet. Whenever she wears blue, it’s typically sequined or a bold blue that compliments other bold colors. Yet, her most iconic blue fashion outfit is the baby blue plunge halter cocktail dress. Stitched into the dress are silver sequins trailing down the velvet dress. The use of baby blue is specific with Samantha as it denotes friendliness and openness, two qualities she is quite familiar with.
5/10 Red Dress and Zebra Print Purse
If anyone can claim red as their signature color on Sex and the City, it would be Samantha. As red pairs well with her, animal print goes well with red. Samantha’s red spaghetti strap dress with a zebra print purse is a classic yet bold look. While animal prints and furs have been popular for decades, it was royalty who made it fashionable, despite Indigenous peoples wearing them first. All the women wear furs and animal print, but they were meant to be worn by Samantha.
4/10 Yellow Blazer
Just as blue and red are staple colors of Samantha’s wardrobe, fabulous blazers and fashionable trench coats are outerwear must-haves. She does live in New York City where coats are necessary. But this is Samantha: she is going to wear a bold color and a tailored cut. When a beautiful ring with diamonds is up for auction in the Sex and the City movie, she wears a yellow blazer with a lightning bolt cut in the middle over a black cocktail dress.
3/10 Flashback to the 1980s
Carrie narrates her first meeting with each of her best friends, noting how they’ve changed or remained the same in Sex and the City 2. The 1980s is when Carrie and Samantha first met. Often, the 80s are misrepresented as being an era of neon when, in fact, they are the era of aerobics, big hair, and acid-washed jeans. In the flashback, Samantha has massive hair and a metal studded denim jacket, all brought together by the accessory every person in the 1980s had: a portable tape player hanging off her hip.
2/10 Enviable Fur Coat Collection
Many of the furs worn on Sex and the City and the two subsequent films were real, which urged animal rights group PETA to ask star Sarah Jessica Parker not to use real fur in And Just Like That. Yet, considering how many iconic fashion moments happen in the franchise, Samantha’s fur coat collection would make anyone gawk with jealousy. One of the best fur coat moments was in the first film when a protester throws fake blood on Samantha’s coat, and she exclaims, “God, I’ve missed New York.”
1/10 Checkered Jacket with Bright Blue Silk Dress
Of all her bold outfits, the bright blue silk plunge dress is Samantha’s most prolific. She wears a red, white, and pink blotch-patterned fedora hat, which was ahead of its resurgence in the early-2000s. Over the dress, she dons a cropped checkered blazer. This look brings together each signature look: the plunging neckline, the blue dress, and a bold, patterned blazer. If any outfit is pure Samantha, this one is it.