This article contains spoilers for Episode 9 of the second season of “And Just Like That …”
Colorful, overflowing closets are familiar backdrops for “And Just Like That …,” but in the new episode, Carrie and her friends leverage the full power of the clothes inside.
The protagonists seem to dress intentionally, as if they are aware of what they can say with a pinstripe or pantsuit. When Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) show up to an apartment viewing in their Manhattan best, they look ready to make a multimillion-dollar offer and take on a co-op board. When Giuseppe (Sebastiano Pigazzi) attends the political event for Herbert Wexley (Christopher Jackson), the poet embodies the role of the polished artist in a blazer and vest.
Ahead of Episode 9, members of The New York Times’s Styles desk discussed the colors, undergarments and pet portraits in the latest installment of the series.
Jeremy Allen This episode’s fashion again felt very “Emily in Paris.” Carrie is sporting a beret as she strolls around the park with Aidan at the end of the episode!
Louis Lucero II Lisa Todd Wexley’s color-blocking certainly seemed to channel the boldness of That Other Show’s titular fashion plate. Even slumped over the keyboard in her closet-cum-editing-bay — there are no casual moments in the life of L.T.W. — she’s still doing the most.
Callie Holtermann Speaking of doing the most, my guffaw of the episode came when Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda toured a Gramercy Park apartment.
JA The trifecta of Miranda’s sage green pantsuit, Charlotte’s floral Oscar de la Renta dress with gigantic sleeves and Carrie’s paint-splattered, vintage Wrangler coat was a sartorial fever dream.
Madison Malone Kircher That pantsuit walked straight out of Taylor Swift’s “Me!” music video, and you cannot convince me otherwise.
LL For an apartment tour, they were certainly doing a lot. But then again, not every apartment comes with a key to Gramercy Park.
MMK That apartment warranted it! Four bedrooms!
Katie Van Syckle And two floors! Dressing for the apartment you want.
LL There was definitely a sense of dressing with intentionality in this episode. I noticed it in the echoed pinstripes suggesting busy-busy business — not only Charlotte, back on her gallerina gig, and Ryan Serhant of “Million Dollar Listing New York,” doing his best to get that apartment rented.
JA Like last week’s episode, underwear was front and center in this one. Once again, we open with Carrie far more dressed in bed than most, wearing a sparkly, body-skimming sheer knit dress from 16Arlington with a black bra and underwear peeking through.
CH Meanwhile, Aidan was dressed down in tighty whities.
KVS He’s a practical, simple, classic man.
JA And then we have Lisa Todd Wexley in her aforementioned closet with a lemon yellow shirt that she removes to reveal a hot pink bra and then top off with a blue dressing gown. Has anyone anywhere ever worn a dressing gown?
CH I love that L.T.W.’s expansive closet has become the setting for so many of her scenes. She and her husband often have tricky conversations — balancing child care, work and their relationship — in the very place where she shifts between uniforms for her various responsibilities.
KVS There were more moments of New York City swag this week. Lily is wearing a yellow New York T-shirt when she has her sleepover with Brady, and Nya is in a gray Columbia shirt.
JA And Carrie’s “Hopper’s New York” exhibition tote from the Whitney Museum!
LL We also had a glimpse of another avatar of a bygone New York: Old Carrie Bradshaw. Returning to her apartment in an ivory blouse stippled with hearts, tucked into a billowing, striped pink skirt, we were reminded that Carrie has never been about the pieces, but the pairings.
JA Pairings that don’t really pair until you decide that, yes, you’ll walk out the door in them. That bravado was always so inspiring to me.
LL I’m sure there was a meaning to Carrie’s decision to dress herself in head-to-toe green for that meeting with Aidan’s ex, but I wasn’t able to suss it out myself.
JA Green for new beginnings? Fresh starts? Envy?
CH Statue of Liberty-core? Symbolizing friendship between nations?
LL Surprise! You’re both right!
JA I can’t get the image of Carrie clutching a kitten out of my mind. It might be an animal-as-accessory moment to rival the JW Anderson pigeon purse.
KVS Another wonderful animal moment was the shot of Charlotte’s portraits of her dogs, Elizabeth Taylor, who is wearing what appears to be a Burberry sweater, and Richard Burton.
LL The good folks of “And Just Like That …” also left us with something to chew over: What will maternity fashion look like for Lisa Todd Wexley?
KVS I am imagining a lot of colorful caftans.
JA I couldn’t help but wonder: How does one color-block a baby bump?
Louis Lucero II, Katie Van Syckle, Jeremy Allen, Madison Malone Kircher, Callie Holtermann contributed reporting.
