Sarah Jessica Parker celebrates Sex And The City’s 25th anniversary with New York exhibition

NEW YORK – It has been 25 years since fashion-forward comedy-drama Sex And The City burst onto television with its candid and witty portrayal of female sexuality and singlehood.

Since the original series ended its six-season run from 1998 to 2004, fans of the beloved show – which won seven Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy Series in 2001 – have clamoured for more.

So stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon reprised their characters – four Manhattanites navigating the highs and lows of friendship and modern dating – in two Sex And The City films (2008 and 2010).

And all four are now back for a second season of the revival series, And Just Like That… (2021 to present), which premieres on HBO Go on Thursday.

It will feature a much-anticipated cameo from British-American actress Cattrall, 66, who was conspicuously absent from Season 1 due to a long-running feud with Parker.

To mark Sex And The City’s 25th anniversary, Parker, 58, recently spoke at the opening of an interactive exhibition in New York.

Visitors can walk through a re-creation of her character Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment, sit at her writing desk and take a tour of her flamboyant closet.

Although the original series had its detractors – who took issue with its materialism and contradictory approach to romance, among other things – the American star says she is grateful to have been part of an experience that has connected with so many people and that “people have such strong feelings about – some good, some not so good”.

“Looking back, we were just wanting to do good work, and all of it felt exciting, fresh and wonderfully unfamiliar,” she says. “And we would never have known that 25 years later, we would be trying to recall those early feelings.”

The franchise continues to put fashion front and centre.

Like Carrie, Parker is a clotheshorse, but her own approach to style has evolved thanks to the show, which is known for its eclectic mix of streetwear and high fashion.

“I’ve certainly learnt from the character about being brave and courageous, and not applying anybody else’s rules to the way you choose to walk out the door,” says Parker, who is married to American actor Matthew Broderick, 61. They have a 20-year-old son and twin girls aged 13.

Carrie’s outfits are not just an expression of her personality, but also a way to help tell the story, Parker adds.

“I learnt a huge amount (from the costume designers) about history and points of reference that were unfamiliar to me – what kids on the streets of Japan or people in Argentina were doing, or what they were pulling from magazines from the Middle East,” she says.

“They always had their eyes on the world and were trying to bring that to New York, which is what happens on the really great fringes of fashion.”

Carrie’s more over-the-top looks from the original show – including a tutu, a shirt worn backwards and a newspaper-print dress, along with endless Manolo Blahnik designer heels – have been both celebrated and lampooned.

But Parker never refuses to try on an outfit, no matter how ridiculous she might think it is.

“You do it if it’s right for the character,” she says.

“I’m as excited about the hits as I am about the misses, to be honest. Because you never know – if you say ‘ugh, no’, and you don’t give it a chance, you never have the possibility of a surprise, or something to really make (Sex And The City and And Just Like That... executive producer) Michael Patrick (King) crazy with joy or confound him.”

Parker reveals that she has also kept and archived all the clothes Carrie has worn that were not borrowed or rented.

“I want to keep them documented and to be able to, purely for economic reasons, bring them back and populate that closet with them again,” she says.

“The costume is every bit as important as the word, so I keep every script that Michael and his writers have written and I keep every outfit. So then we can bring it all back.”