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Behind the Voice: Sally Singer



"I think of elegance as a way of being at ease with the world and of putting others at ease with the world through one’s ability to link one’s aesthetics in some way, not necessarily in an harmonious way, but in an interesting way, to the preoccupations and expectations of others and in some way behave in the world with a sense of grace." - Sally Singer


The Common Denominator


Fashion’s Role as the Fifth Character in Sex and the City
When Sex and the City premiered on HBO in 1998, it wasn’t the first show of its kind to utilize fashion as an unstated characterization of the women in the show. However, it was the first to use fashion as a symbol for the silent fifth character. Based on Candice Bushnell’s collection of essays, the books focus on the life of Carrie Bradshaw and the various relationship sagas of her four single friends. While most wouldn’t dare attempt the majority of the girl’s crazy antics, audiences across the world found themselves relating and aspiring to be each one of them. Though a few had come close, never before had their been a show where the fashion was meant to be analyzed and negotiated over as much as the characters in the show were. Patricia Field, costume designer of Sex and the City, demonstrated how fashion could dictate the personalities of the lovable quartet. Field showed men and women that fashion could signify things that words could simply not express.


We watched as fashion became a major component in lives of Carrie, the overdramatic writer, Miranda the cynical lawyer, Samantha the sex-crazed PR executive,and Charlotte the hopelessly romantic art curator. With a reported fifty outfits changes per episode over the show’s six year run, Field morphed the clothing to reflect the mental states of each character. The connotative level of understanding of the show reaching far beyond any show at the time. “The formula I use is an equidistant triangle,” explains Field. “One point of the triangle is the actor another is the character, and the third is the wardrobe. Each of these points caters to the script.” 

Patricia Field, costume designer of Sex and the City

Carrie is known as the most relatable of the four girls, because of her smart relationship quips and extreme obsession with shoes. As a freelance writer she is emancipated from the inflexible policies of an office dress code, and her eccentric wardrobe often acts as a metaphor for her financial standing at the time. Without any constraints on her daily looks, we follow as she develops an eclectic style that many viewers came to identify with. “Carrie’s pastiche looks have an ambivalent influence on her audience,” agrees Stella Bruzzi author of Reading Sex and the City, “On the other hand, she made Manolo Blahnik shoes a household name on the other, the styles that have been explicitly marketed as series tie-ins are the inexpensive, easy to copy items.” 
Carrie, who describes her addiction to shoes as a “substance abuse problem,” obsesses over her Manolo Blahniks to a point that borderlines on fetishization; a relatable trait that becomes a mainstay line of the show. Just like all of Carrie’s personal relationships on the show, the road to love between her and her Manolo’s was a bumpy one. In season three, Carrie experiences a quintessential New York moment- getting mugged. In “What Goes Around Comes Around,” Carrie not only gets striped of her wallet and jewelry, but she looses her cherished shoes as well. “You can take my Fendi baguette, you can take my ring and my watch” Carrie yells at her mugger in one of the shows most iconic scenes, “but don’t take my Manolo Blanks!” Season six again depicts Carrie loosing her treasured heels in “A Woman’s Right to Shoes.” This time her Manolo Blahnik D’Orsay stilettos are stolen at a party she attends where the hostess demanded that all guests remove their shoes before entering the apartment. In each situation, Carrie is willing to do anything  to keep her Manolos from harm almost as if they were a friend she were loyally protecting.
One of her most familiar choices is the ‘Carrie’ necklace. Though it is worth next-to-nothing in monetary value, Carrie’s personal attachment to the accessory is worth more than the $55,000 replacement one of her boyfriends, Alexandr Petrovsky, offers to buy her. Though it is out of style at the time, Carrie is so intrinsically linked to that piece that it becomes somewhat of a symbol of her character. Purchased from a street fair while out shopping with her girls, it represents what she really values in life: the people she loves. When she moves to Paris in season six, she is left distraught to find that she has lost her necklace. The loss of the necklace symbolizes the loss of herself as she suppresses her desire to go home whilst loosing her individuality to a one-sided relationship. Finding the necklace caught in the lining of her Dior purse, she takes it as an omen for her return to New York. She burst into her signature “Carrie smile” and sprinting through the streets of Paris. While it wasn’t the necklace that made her Carrie, its loss served as the representation of her inward struggles and inability to find herself in a place that, no matter how hard she tried, could never feel like home.

Miranda Hobbes - SEX AND THE CITY 2 Wallpaper

Completely different from Carrie, Miranda Hobb’s style is much like her personality: sardonic and abrasive. Her clothing reflects her constant struggle to compete for power within her predominately male work environment. A workaholic whose personal style reflects her professional aura, Miranda succumbs to the notion that she must masculinize herself if she wants to be taken seriously. After years of dressing in little other than pantsuits and the occasional pair of sweats, she even gets mistaken for lesbian in season two’s ‘Bay of Married Pigs.’ Her style does not improve until after she becomes a mother in season five, and furthermore when becomes a wife and moves to Brooklyn in season six. As a she comes into her own by filling a more traditional female role, she learns that a woman can be just as powerful in a dress as she can in trousers. Though Miranda thinks she is above fashion, her aversion to it only increases the impact when she learns to be happy with her position as depicted through her sartorial transformation.



Charlotte York, the eternal all-American optimist, is the most reserved of the four. Though never snobby, Charlotte’s style expresses her economic standing through upscale separates and fine jewelry. Her signature designer is Burberry, a brand typically associated with class, luxury, and tradition, all words Charlotte would find extremely complimenting. Her old-fashioned notions of romance and marriage are signified by her retro, full-skirt silhouettes, high-cut Peter Pan collars, and strands of pearls.

Samantha is easily the most outrageous of all four women, both in her relationships and sartorial decisions. A relentless cougar by nature, she is clad in a wardrobe full of super-short dresses, plunging neck-lines and exaggerated accessories. Samantha is the most sure of who she is, and never looses sight of that in her life and in her style, despite being thrown a slew of unfortunate circumstances. “While the other characters change quite substantially by season five, Samantha’s look remains constant,” Field points out. When Samantha is diagnosed with breast cancer in season six, she transforms the ordeal into an opportunity to wear outre wigs and head scarves. Once again using fashion to interpret her emotions, Samantha doesn’t seem to fully comprehend the severity of her diagnosis until she is unable to find a wig to match her outfit.


The phenomenal importance of appearance as used as a tool for character development contributed to the astronomical success of the show. The eccentricities of Carrie’s various outfits symbolize her exuberant personality. Charlotte’s sharp silhouettes gradually become more relaxed as she grows weary of the possibility finding her own happily ever after. Samantha’s promiscuous ensembles convey her salacious nature and bulletproof confidence. Miranda’s masculine style shows a debauched view of a man’s world, and her transformation to a more feminine silhouette showed that she is finally satisfied with her place in life. The women of Sex and the City are diverse in many ways, but fashion acts as the common denominator linking them together and allowing them to communicate with their viewers through the fifth main character: the clothing.

Runway Jay



As Hollywood sets in motion the reproduction of The Great Gatsby, both Daisy and Jay’s wardrobes got an update on the Spring/Summer 2012 runways. Turns out, Fitzgerald-inspired references are ubiquitous this season: clear paneled flapper dresses caught the light at Marc Jacobs; Tory Burch’s glitzy shift dresses were reminiscent of nights at the beach in the ‘20s; elegant pajama dressing was inspired by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s collection of vintage sleepwear, and Marchesa’s flapper-styled column dresses were flashbacks of prohibition-era luxury. 
Fortunately, there is no shortage of Gatsby-themed references to entice audiences until the collections are available. Kate Moss channeled a modern day heroine at her Fitzgerald-styled summer nuptials to The Kills rocker Jamie Hince. The Artist, a film encompassing all things Hollywood during the roaring ‘20s, has already picked up the Golden Globe for best motion picture: comedy or musical, and is currently up for best motion picture at the 2012 Academy Awards. In Midnight in Paris, the whispy-thin Marion Cotillard evokes images of Mia Farrow as ‘74s Daisy Buchanan. Donning drop-waists and feminine slip-style dresses akin to those of jazz age legends, she could have easily been the muse to Ralph Lauren’s Spring 2012 show. 
Ralph, who is completely obsessed with the Gatsby philosophy (It is rumored that reading the book and watching the movie are prerequisites for any job with his company.) sent out one of his most beautiful collections to date centered around his favorite novel. Romantic and wealthy are two words that sum up the collection which was a very literal interpretation of his own costume design in 1974’s The Great Gatsby, starring Mia Farrow and Robert Redford. His art deco embellishments and ankle skimming hemlines brought back the blue-blooded romance that was so divine. So whether fans want to instill their wardrobes with glass beads and cloche hats, or just hang up their poster of new leads Leo and Carey, the mood this season calls for a celebratory Charleston. 

Alter Ego

Mary-Kate & Ashley in Elle UK, April 2012
via Olsens Annonymous

Elle UK April 2012
Ashley Olsen is my celebrity alter ego. With a touch of Emma Stone perhaps. 


Healthy Competition


MilkMade Upgrades in an Effort to Take Over Fashion Week

MilkMade, the longtime fashion week associate, is remodeling itself in an effort to beat out its competitors. Based out of New York City and Los Angeles, the M.A.C. Cosmetics-run space is remodeling its approach to Fashion Week and increasing its show budget by 25%. Closing in on its fifth collaboration with New York Fashion Week, the studio proves that a little creative competition is healthy in the fashion industry. 
Formerly known as Mac & Milk, the studio’s New York location is right next to the Chelsea market on 15th street between 10th and 11th avenues. Though the services provided are much more helpful to younger brands in need of low budget productions than its competitions at Lincoln Center, are, MilkMade is still having to work to bring in designers. The less than convenient locations makes it difficult for the editors and buyers to transport back and forth between New York’s neighborhoods during the show seasons. 


Fashion Week, while a necessary expense, is incredibly straining on the budget of start up brands. Averaging in around $50,000 for a ten minute show, fashion week can put a serious dent into any brand’s budget. MilkMade offers a full-service venue, complete with hair and makeup teams, food services, adequate lighting, and casting agents for free. M.A.C., as an established cosmetics company, can afford to support young designers as they establish a beneficial relationship on each end of the deal. “It hones the craft of our make-up artists and keeps the skill set of our makeup artists at high levels.” John Dempsey, president of M.A.C.’s parent company Estee Lauder, told Vogue. “It allows [M.A.C.] to pick up major trends and counter cultural trends.”  Designers receive the aforementioned show space free of charge, while M.A.C. receives on the job training for their makeup artists and publicity for their products. Lately, M.A.C. has been making an effort to partner themselves with the fashion industry at large. Holding recent 2011 Independent Fashion Bloggers Evolving Influence conference, numerous book launches and magazine parties,  MilkMade is reaching out to all sides of the industry in an effort to gain credibility and inspire new methods of communications for presenting clothes. 
Marketed as the premiere studio for runway, advertising, and editorial, MilkMade also puts a big emphasis on the behind the scenes work of fashion. “[it’s] a place where we can push the envelope. The idea was to create a community.”  S/S’12 had them filming a special on everything from model castings to after parties, all of which can be found on their website, www.milkmade.com. 


Though MilkMade and the new official home of NYFW, Lincoln Center, aren’t catering to the same companies, there is a strong feeling of competition to get the best designers and the most press to come to their respective spaces. When the gaps between shows can vary from as little as five minutes to two hours, there are plenty of examples of times where editors and buyers cannot make it to a show on time because they are coming from all the way uptown or downtown. Fashion week is a mad rush around the city and many people are unable to take the subway, either because of the height of their heels or their aversion to public transport, and are left sitting for hours grid-locked in city traffic. 
A more modest venue than Lincoln Center, MilkMade provides an intimate setting for designers to show their collections, as opposed to the expansive arenas of Lincoln Center. Lincoln Center’s not all bad, of course. It’s extra space allows for a waiting area in between shows where showgoers can wait comfortably in between presentations. Lincoln Center has a much more organized feel to it, thanks to the hawk-like security guards and interns patrolling the area. MilkMade, on the other hand, benefits from the chaos, making it feel like the edgier, underground clubs Lincoln Center types would go to on the weekend. 


For Spring/Summer 2012, thirty-five designers, including Peter Som, Sophie Theallet, Suno, Oscar de la Renta, Jeremy Scott, and Jeremy Laing, will get the amazing gift of more time to focus on creating collections. MilkMade will account for all of the pesky issues the designers would normally have to deal with, including invitations, RSVPs, photographers, seating, etc. 
As fashion continues to advance itself season after season, venues have to keep up with each new demand exerted upon them by the pressure to keep up with their competitors. Working together to solve the problem of transportation between event spaces would help the overall fluidity of the week, but the creative means by which they develop their own practices is of much greater value to the improvement of each show. A place the boys of Proenza Schouler call “a home away from home,” MilkMade stands as the representation of the evolution of fashion week and the changing frontier of how fashion is being presented.

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Caroline Mason: 21. Native New Yorker (and one time North Carolinian). Assistant to Derek Blasberg. Just a girl who is OCD about all things fashion, drinks way too much coffee, and has an affinity for late night talk shows and travel books. FIT class of 2016. Previously with Karla Otto PR, Lori Goldstein and Lester Garcia.

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