How Carrie Bradshaw’s $5 Tutu Became One of TV’s Most Iconic Fashion Moments
By Alexus Mosley
Photo Credit: HBO
Some of television’s most unforgettable fashion moments begin with couture gowns, designer archives or meticulous custom work. Carrie Bradshaw’s famous white tutu began in a five-dollar bin.
While shopping at a Midtown fashion showroom, Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Field spotted a bit of white tulle peeking out from a box of marked-down garments. She pulled it free and found a short, tiered tutu-style skirt that immediately felt right for Sarah Jessica Parker.
Field recalls imagining the skirt with a simple fitted top, creating a look that felt both playful and modern. She also thought Parker would connect with it because of her background in ballet. More importantly, the tutu had exactly the kind of personality Field wanted for Carrie: whimsical, unexpected, and a little daring. Parker loved it immediately.
Photo Credit: HBO
That instinct would end up becoming one of the most recognizable fashion images in television history. The tutu appeared in the opening credits of Sex and the City, paired with a pale pink tank top as Carrie confidently strutted through Manhattan before being splashed by a passing bus bearing an advertisement for her own newspaper column. The look was simple, strange, and completely memorable.
It was also a perfect introduction to the fashion philosophy that would eventually define Carrie Bradshaw. Her wardrobe was rarely about wearing the most expensive thing in the room. It was about mixing high and low, elegant and eccentric, designer and vintage, then wearing it all with complete conviction.
Field’s arrival on the series helped establish that approach. She had previously worked with Parker on the 1995 film Miami Rhapsody, and Parker reportedly pushed for Field to join Sex and the City after being unhappy with the wardrobe used for the original pilot.
The partnership would go on to create countless fashion moments, but there is something especially fitting about the fact that one of the most famous began with a skirt that had essentially been discarded.
A five-dollar piece of tulle became Carrie Bradshaw. And decades later, we’re still talking about it.