Always look like you know where you’re going even if you don’t. -Samantha Jones
For 25 years, Sex and the City has been a reference for fashion trends, memes, love reflections, aspirations, and even inspiration when it comes to the three l’s (life, love, and labels).
Each of the characters, in their own way, has engaged us with their stories. Loving them or disagreeing with them, but in the end, welcoming us into their world full of fashion and reflections on love, life, and politics.
One of the fascinating aspects of fictional characters is how much thought goes into creating this persona. The character has a name, a dialog, a personality, and a way of thinking, expressing, and communicating with others. This character grows and changes season after season, but ultimately, the essence prevails.
Clothing plays an important role in building the identity of a character. Where would Spongebob be without his Squarepants or Johnny Bravo with no sunglasses and black t-shirt? Fashion becomes part of who we are and a form of expression. So it’s fascinating to see fashion’s role in fictional characters to engage the audience and communicate messages effectively.
Today we’ll talk about a fictional character from Sex and the City that is controversial, political, hilarious, intelligent, and clever. Today we’ll talk about the political fashion of Samantha Jones.
Playing with the proportion of our clothes can make optical illusions to make us look taller, wider, and slimmer. Think of every garment as lines that move around your body. Vertical lines make you look taller, and horizontal lines make you look wider.
Now, every garment is composed of several lines, which makes styling and clothing selection fascinating. This white and turquoise outfit from Samantha Jones has a horizontal line on her neck, bringing attention to the necklace. The lapels of the white vinyl coat create sharp and dynamic diagonal lines that give further emphasis to the neck and chest.
Then, there is a sharp horizontal line at the hem of the coat, which can make her look shorter than her actual height. However, this visual effect is very well balanced with the knee-high turquoise boots that elongate her legs, creating an interesting optical illusion that overall plays very well.
It’s very common to stay stuck in a particular type of clothes that has worked for us for a long time: short dresses, mid-waist jeans and t-shirts, high-waisted bikinis, or long sleeve shirts.
But every aspect of clothing is a design opportunity. The hem, the colors, the length, the sleeves, the material, the prints, and the proportion. One of the most meaningful fashion lessons from Samantha Jones is that she can pull off a beautifully tailored yellow suit and, the next day, a vinyl graphic jumpsuit, followed up by a furry baby doll.
Savvy Winter Choices
When it comes to winter coats, it’s a smart idea to invest in a good quality faux fur coat in a classic color or with classic design elements. It is true that every winter, there is a small variation of these fur coats, especially in fast fashion, when they make coats with loud prints or graphics that consumers get rid of fairly quickly.
But coats are a significant investment, and it’s smarter to purchase a few good quality coats in neutral colors that you can style differently rather than buying several exotic coats that will be difficult to style during the long winter season.
Statement Jewelry
Jewelry can bring up an outfit significantly when styled wisely. There are certain pieces of jewelry that are timeless, classic, and easy to wear, such as pearl necklaces or silver chains. But there are also statement pieces. Interesting shapes, colors, and materials that wrap around one’s neck, arms, or ears in a beautiful way.
It is true that not all pieces of jewelry are for everyone. Those with short necks should not go for layered necklaces that will make their neck look even shorter. So even though there are no standard sizes in necklaces or earrings as there are on shoes and clothing, it is very important to try jewelry on and see what ends up working for you. It’s worth trying some statement jewelry pieces on. Samantha Jones has shown us that a good pair of earrings or a fabulous necklace elevates an outfit to a whole different level.
Bright colors for a bright personality
One of the reasons why Samantha Jones is such an admired character is that she has a lot of self-confidence. Throughout the six seasons, she showed how good she is at public relations, making events happen, succeeding in her career, and embracing her personal life and choices with grace and pride in a way many people may struggle to do.
I will not be judged by you or society -Samantha Jones
A strong character requires strong clothing that emphasizes the strong personality of this character. Samantha Jones embraces her sexuality, her femininity, and her personal and professional intelligence to its core.
So her clothes can only illustrate this remarkable strength and confidence. Bright yellow, bold red, clever color blocking and spectacular metallic fabrics are some visual elements we see in Jones’ clothing selection.
Girl Boss
There is a whole psychology behind the way we interpret people based on the clothes they are wearing. You can need a doctor in an airplane, but if the doctor is wearing shorts, a Mario Bros t-shirt, and a Winnie the Pooh hat, we will perceive him differently than if he helps us wearing a white lab coat.
So, in a world so focused on optics and first impressions, clothing has become a meaningful aspect of the way we relate to each other personally and professionally.
Samantha Jones is a public relations expert with connections all over New York City and throughout the country. Her clothing is carefully selected to represent this empowerment of women in business.
We rarely see Ms. Jones wearing a classic black or navy tailored pantsuit. Instead, we see her wearing yellow blazers with interesting lapels, suits in bold colors like magenta, red, or green. Her high heels, her statement jewelry, and her colorful clothing speak about the confidence that leads her life choices throughout the six seasons and two movies.
Samantha Jones has the boldest fashion style of all Sex and the City characters. It is the energy of the colors she wears and the dimensions and proportions of her clothing and accessories that make us see her as a strong, confident woman who is not scared of being open about her sexual life, speaking about the way she thinks and feels, and is not afraid to say it.
Sexuality is empowering
For a very long time in the history of humanity, men have dictated how women should wear clothes. Tight corsets limited women’s mobility in the 18th century. The invention of bikini made many people react with rejection because more than focusing on the comfort of women wearing a bikini when swimming in the ocean, men wondered if women should be allowed to show “that much skin,” particularly those who were in a relationship, or were married, or were mothers.
As you know, I have always loved my body just the way it is. -Samantha Jones
The misconception that the decision to show skin moves around the desire to get men’s attention is prevalent. But there are many reasons why one decides to wear a mini skirt or a deep neckline: the clothes are cute, the weather is hot, there is a desire to celebrate confidence in one’s body, it’s comfortable, it’s refreshing, and yes, there may sometimes be a desire to get someone’s attention on us. And there is nothing wrong or diminishing about this, as long as we are not out of place with our behaviors and our words.
This is a prevalent political fashion statement that Samantha Jones showed us in Sex and the City. She embraced her sexuality and her body with empowerment. For Ms. Jones, wearing a jeweled bra when being intimate with someone wasn’t diminishing or objectifying. Quite the opposite. She leveraged her self-confidence to find pleasure that, for her, made perfect sense. People around her didn’t understand it. Sometimes even her friends had a hard time understanding her and ended up judging her.
I’m a tri-sexual. I’ll try anything once.
Remember when Carrie finds Samantha in a compromising position with her postman, and Carrie spends the rest of the episode making fun of her? There was also that episode where Charlotte was very frustrated after finding out Samantha slept with her brother and snapped: “Is your vagina in the NYC Guide books? Because it should be. It’s the hottest spot in town. It’s always open”.
Samantha’s sexual empowerment is one of the main reasons why fans around the world love her. Because even though she was often misunderstood by the people around her, including her friends, she was confident and certain about what she wanted for herself. She was not afraid to say it nor afraid to do what needed to be done in order to accomplish it.
This level of confidence is a very refreshing and aspirational way of thinking. In the late 90s and the early 2000s, when this show aired, the sexually open statements that Samantha Jones made were not very well received by many. The judgment toward women who engage in sexual behaviors is still prevalent when we see JLO performing with a mini dress or Dua Lipa showing her abs while she’s having a blast with her friends in Europe.
Samantha Jones may not have been the first nor the last fictional character to address this matter in a show. But it was through her clever statements, her fabulous clothes, her bold personality, and her savvy strategies that many people have found their body and their sexuality as a strength instead of a weakness. And this is a very meaningful political fashion statement and life lesson that Sex and the City fans will remember forever.
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