Sex and the City 2: The Movie review

Last night my sister and I went to see the new Sex and the City movie. I was looking forward to it, but apprehensively: every single review i'd read had been awful, so I didn't want to expect alot. I think that is the way to approach the film, because with my low expectations I actually found I had a great time!

In a recent interview SJP decribed the film as "a romp" and that's exactly what it was: I laughed out loud several times (usually at Samantha) I despaired at Carrie's hopelessness (and at the sometimes wince inducing plot) and I left the theatre feeling somewhat fulfilled. Some parts of the story were cut off too quickly, and the storyline that lead them to the Middle East in the first place was thin and patchy to say the least. But if you suspend your disbelief and accept it for what it is then I think you can still have a good night out with "the girls" (Isn't it ridiculous to call women in their 50s girls!?) The film franchise will never live up to the TV series for me, but in whatever way its nice to watch characters you love grow and develop, even if it isn't in the way you would've chosen for them.

The fashion though, was fabulous: it felt like some scenes had only been added as set pieces for Patrica Field to show what she could do. The big gay wedding (between two characters that hated each other - did I miss something?!) and the trekking across the desert on camels (yes, I felt your collective sigh) were costume high points, but plot-line low points. (Although Liza Minelli was incredible and we left the cinema still singing Beyonce because of her!) The scene where Miranda and Charlotte have a heart to heart about motherhood is touching, and could have been made much more of: the dresses they wear in that scene are fantastic too! SJP wears ALOT of Halston (predictably) and this actually means that for me she isn't the best or most interestingly dressed character in the film: look to the other ladies for your sartorial inspiration!

Speaking of the fashion, you might remember aages ago I showed you my Carrie Bradshaw-style Fabfrocks name necklace. Well Carrie still wears hers all the way through the latest film, and if you're still thinking of getting your hands on one (your name not Carries, unless you're a super-fan!) then I still recommend mynamenecklace who made mine. They're also started doing them in Arabic Script: yet more inspiration from the Sex and the City franchise! I wish i'd remembered to put mine on yesterday, but as we went straight from work we didn't get to dress up and do our homage to Bradshaw: next time (and there will be a next time: I predict that this franchise isn't dead yet!)

Have you been to see the film yet? I'd love to know what you think!
Love, Tor xx

Sex and the City 2: What SATC girl are you?

OK, i'm prepared to admit it and i'm not sorry! I love Sex and the City and i'm really excited about seeing the next movie: I don't care if its a bt cheesy or if people think the franchise has sold out. I want to know what happens to my four favourite New Yorkers next, and I want to see what Carrie will be wearing.

Everyone relates to one or another of the SATC characters and one time or another: and I relate to Carrie. I also covet her wardrobe in ways I cannot comprehend, so much so that sometimes it makes my tummy hurt. And because this morning i've watched the trailer twice and i'm getting super excited about 'C' day (that's Carrie day) I thought it was the perfect day to share our Sex and the City stories (because i'm sure you all love it too!), look at pictures of Carrie looking perfect, and I want to know which character you most relate to; not everyone's a Carrie girl (My sister hates her, she says she's pathetic!)

I already have the day I will be going to see the movie pencilled into my diary: the date is set, the post-movie analysis cocktail bar chosen, the outfit planned. And because I have weddings on the brain at the minute, I couldn't resist sharing the picture of the girls in full wedding regalia!

Sigh - The Vivienne Westwood wedding dress is the dream, but sadly won't be the reality! Expect a full review of the new movie as soon as i've seen it: i'm sure there'll be lots to talk about! Will you be going to see it too?

Love, Tor xx

Sex and the City: Again!!!

Hey all,

So, I spent all day yesterday thinking about the Patricia Field collection at M&S, and wishing I’d stopped long enough to try some of the magic dresses on. After all, who doesn’t want to go to parties looking a little bit like Sarah Jessica Parker?

I knew that the longer I thought about how fabulous they would all look, the more disappointed I would be when they inevitably didn’t zip up over my bust, so I finished work and hopped skipped and jumped back to Marble Arch to fill my arms with frocks and embark on some changing room madness.

Dress #1: The sparkle dress

Look at that sparkle! The high necked collar did nothing for my bust, but as you can see it looked great from the front. However it clinged rather unflatteringly to my tummy which didn’t look good from the side. The dress was very heavy and felt really nice on though.


Dress #2: The floral dress

As you can see by the way it’s hanging off my shoulder, this dress wouldn’t quite zip all the way up at the back. Not boob friendly then. This dress disappointed me a little, because it was the one I most wanted to look fabulous, but it really didn’t….

Dress #3: The corsage dress

Aside from the thick and beautiful corsage, which is beautiful whichever way you look at it, I was a bit dubious about this dress on the hanger. The fabric was a stretchy lycra which I didn’t expect to flatter at all. However, I was wrong!! I love love love this clichéd statement dress.


Dress #4: The star dress

Apparently star print isn’t getting old! There’s nothing particularly fabulous about this dress but the fit is nice, the thicker straps were flattering on a wider arm and it felt light and floaty. Probably the only dress I tried on that I would say wasn’t worth the money though…


Dress #5: The demure dress

This dress didn’t seem especially fab on the rack, but then when I tried it on it turned out to be the best fitting dress of them all. The sheen on the fabric looked great, the gemmed collar was really well made, and all the detail in the back stopped it looking boring.


So there you have it. A close up of how the Patricia Field collection looks on a ‘real’ body. Because, frankly, even a bin liner would look OK on a mannequin! I’m sure you’re all sick of seeing these dresses by now though: I’ll step away from the M&S tomorrow, I promise.

Love
Tor

SATC (Shopping and the City)

If the early bird catchers the worm dear reader, then this blog won’t be winning any prizes!

Yesterday morning Patricia Field graced the Marks and Spencer Marble Arch store with her presence to launch her new collection which went on sale on the website at midnight. Hundreds of people queued for hours for a glimpse of Pat and to be amongst the first to have their pick of the full range which included dresses, jackets, bags, scarves, belts and shoes.

Was I up at 7am to join the fun? No I was not! Sadly by the time I arrived at around lunchtime the lady herself had gone and all the hoo-hah had died down. Some rather glamorous staff members (all of the staff were wearing their pick of the range) told me that after a frantic morning, all of the accessories in the collection had sold out.


If quality is measured by customer interest then, the collection is a huge success. But is this a measure of Pat F’s talent as a stylist or the power of the SATC franchise (I even saw SATC Christmas tree decorations in Harrods today)?


Despite missing out on all the accessories, the dresses of the collection were still all available and ready for some up close inspection. My first thought was that perhaps the range could be renamed “How to Look like Carrie Bradshaw” because if I had to sum the collection up in one sentence I would say that it was a series of very good rip offs SJP wore in the SATC movie. See below if you don’t believe me!



Do you see now? Do you see?? But as a devout fan of the SJP look, I don’t see that as a bad thing. I’m not sure how the designers she’s ripping off will feel about the whole thing however! Overall though I think the collection is good. The fabrics were hit and miss ranging from cheap feeling polyester to gorgeous chiffon and thick rich cottons. I am a massive fan of the brocade florals (which I couldn’t get close enough to take pictures of) which are used on a couple of beautiful scoop neck dresses. I also like the simple cut of the coats and the shoes and belts seemed to be particularly well constructed and made of real leather (you don’t get that from Lily Allen at new look!)
A coven of dressed up mannequins (if you look closely you can see the dress I love on the poster in the back ground!)


As with all collections there were a couple of dresses I couldn’t abide. In this case they were those of a non descript polyester “I could have got this from primark for a third of the price” persuasion. A purple tiered rara skirted dress with spaghetti straps? Teamed with a contrasting belt? How original! You get the idea…..

But hey, when was the last time you saw the perfect diffusion range? For right or wrong, the middle market has to be covered. Although neither original or fashion forward, I was a big fan of the sequinned blazer which fit tightly and fastened like a corset. And, as you can see, so was my mama:

Doesn’t she look cute as a button? And it goes to show the range can be adapted for anyone. Although M&S are blatantly targeting a younger demographic by bringing PF onboard, they aren’t isolating their devoted shoppers who can incorporate a smaller piece or two in with their Per Una staples.

Go Marks and Spencer I say. A brave decision, and a good one. Not unlike the St Michaels coat I have in my wardrobe which is over 20 years old, I think an investment in a piece from the PF collection is an investment in the future!

Much Love,

Tor

Sex and the City - the review, the clothes, the bunions.

Hello blogosphere,

Well, I'm back home from the Odeon, still bedecked in my sequinned finery and sipping daintily on a G&T. Friends, I'm here to tell you that where liquor is concerned, never stray from the classics. I say this as a woman who drank her very first Cosmopolitan this evening. Why would you ruin gin by dumping a fruit cocktail in there?

Check it: me and beloved co-blogger Tor, drinking our fancy £3.90 cocktails. The cinema bar lady took a looooong time to stick the little straws to the side of the glass. I am given to understand that this kind of gesture denotes a joint that is well classy. Still, all her effort was for naught as we were running late and had to quaff our pink ladydrinks like sailors. You see Tor in her tough leaher jacket and Carrie Bradshaw tribute corsage. Underneath was a very fetching green plaid prom dress from Primark. The concept was "Carrie Bradshaw if she was English and all rock-slash-emo." I decided to honour the Pat Field look with a waist belt and the artful juxtaposition of charity shop daisies and gold chains with 1920s-style chiffon miniskirts.

Ah, it wasn't styled with the artfulness of the show or indeed with the elan that other bloggers display, but hey...I felt thin, I felt sexy and if I bent over the world was my gynecologist. Thematic, right? What's not to love?

Now, the film itself.... I don't want to spoil it for anyone who's still looking for the time to go. Instead I shall present you with ten abstract promises of what awaits you:

1) A young Judy Garland
2) Nipple count of 3 vs. Penile Count of 1
3) A gypsy curse
4) Head bird
5) 2.5 seconds of glorious Andre Leon Talley offset by an awful 1.25 of Plum Sykes's SMUG FACE.
6) Poopie pants
7) Glorious alien-queen 1980s dress montage

You won't see this. This scene was not in the movie. Please do not anticipate this scene.
If you expect this scene you will be disappointed. Thank you for discounting this scene.

8)David Eigenberg in multicoloured plaid.
9) Hilarious product placement for Pret a Manger of all bloody things.
10) Two words: Bear attack.

I enjoyed the movie. I thought that the finest moments were in the first 2/3rds of the plot and that there is a noticeable drop in momentum in the third act. People have said that it's just 3 episodes strung together but honestly the structure on the TV eps is waaay tighter. The year timespan felt like a imposed structure on which to hang plot. This is a story, baggier than Samantha's cooch with little set pieces for all the women (Kristin Davis = angry hobbling comic genius) but with the men (with the exception of David Eigenberg as Steve) totally sidelined and wasted. Don't tease a half drunk Becky with one fricking scene with Evan Handler. Dude's a bald Jew king with a New York stage career and charisma up the yin-yang and the movie gives him nothing but a neutered teddy-bear bit? That's some class A b.s. in my book. Also? Smith got old. Again, the narrative gives him nothing and reduces his character to insubstantial prettyboy. But onscreen and blown-up twenty feet, his skin.... oy. Ever slung a leather handbag in the washing machine? All I'm saying.

There are some ace moments and some great dialogue (what other summer movie is going to reference Diane Arbus in a throwaway line?) and yes, it is genuinely moving. I also have an enormous amount of respect for Sarah Jessica Parker's willingness to look like genuine, absolute shit: no make-up, middle aged skin, puffy bags and bad hair. When you've seen as many shitty rom-coms as I have where the heroine's little upset is signified by two mascara streaks and a cute pyjama'd bum, you appreciate an actor taking a risk, putting aside vanity and making an emotional moment real. SaTC is a total fantasy, no question, but it's always put a premium on theatre-trained New York actors and in amongst all the puns and outfits and associated whatnots, there's a commitment to genuine emotion. Jennifer Hudson is wonderful an instinctual actress rather than a NY trained true blue but, much to my dismay, her character was wasted - a plot point with staggering cleavage. She does what she can and looks luscious but she's written off as arbitrarily as she arrives.

Look at her - how was she not in every scene?

Ah, but it's okay. Tor will rip me a new one for being too critical. Some things are sacred and god knows the viewing experience in the cinema was like a big boozy slumberparty with 100 strangers. That's what the shared experience and character investment of 6 years of loyal viewership will give you. It was a feeling unlike any other experience I've ever had at the cinema. I didn't even go ballistic at the girls in the front row texting during the movie or at the pockets of chatter all throughout the screening room (believe me -- usually I'm a Nazi). I was serene - we were all there for the shoes.

Love,
Becky.

PS - Inquiring minds wanna know. Favourite outfit? This one. Gotta love bling and a trailing sleeve. Thanks for asking.

Perpetual anticipation is good for the soul but it's bad for the heart

Hello blogosphere,

The piece of advice my mother most often gives me is as follows: "Beck, you've got to get your finger out." Well, mum, blogosphere, consider my finger vehemently extracted as, despite the many procrastinatory tools the internet offers, I have much blogging to do. Especially now that "I'd Do Anything" has finished. I don't know about you but my productivity dwindles to nothing in the face of musical theatre. Add a shedload of tack to that equation and you've got me almost comatose with glee.

I'm powerless to resist this. It is my nature.
I also love their shitty 'signature' petticoats and Tyra-branded "catalogue" pose.
Incidentally, this competition was all about the emotion behind the eyes as well. If you wanna be a model or a musical star, ya gotta have the mad retinal skillz of a Streep or a Lady Pacino.

Anyway, like every other blogger in the free world, I'm going to see the Sex and the City film. Me, Tor and my boyfriend are hitting the Odeon tomorrow night and it goes without saying, does it not, that we are dressing up in all our Pat Field-inspired tranny glory. I'm wearing a skirt that is flappy, chiffony and thoroughly too short for me and I'm stealing a pair of whorish shoes from Tor, who will be dressed as a Primark prom princess. Tristan, my endlessly tolerant beloved (who actually loves SATC and demands marathon binges), will be dressed in one of the 5 combinations he wears his clothes but as he's never without a suave jacket, we'll just tell everyone he's Mr Big. Unless he pisses me off, in which case I'll tell everyone he's that dude who kept pooing in front of Miranda in Season Four.

I'm clenching my stomach muscles and floral vagina accessories in anticipation! A review and fashion editorial will follow. Predictable posting, I know but rest assured, There Will Be Jokes.

Your absent friend and People's Nancy,
Becky.