By Olivia Barker, USA TODAY
Which Sex and the City character's style do you identify with most?
Which Sex and the City character's style do you identify with most?
Carrie's purses are towering triumphs in 'Sex'
On TV's Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw inspired women to think outside the boxy bag and instead pick up purses shaped like horse heads and telephones. In Sex and the City the movie, she's getting them to grab something monumental: the Eiffel Tower.
Since a publicity shot of Carrie embracing Mr. Big and clutching a purse shaped like the Parisian icon was released in the fall, Beverly Hills designer Timmy Woods has sold about 150 of the bags showered with Swarovski crystals at $3,000 a pop and another 1,000 purses without stones for $450 each.
Since a publicity shot of Carrie embracing Mr. Big and clutching a purse shaped like the Parisian icon was released in the fall, Beverly Hills designer Timmy Woods has sold about 150 of the bags showered with Swarovski crystals at $3,000 a pop and another 1,000 purses without stones for $450 each.
The movie may be stuffed with more blatant status bags from the likes of Fendi, Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Prada, but the Eiffel Tower's triumph is evidence that four years after the show wrapped, Sex can still sell fashion that's quirky and in contrast to the other characters, consummately Carrie. (Remember nameplate necklaces and saucer-sized flower pins?)
And, like so much of Sex style, it serves a narrative purpose.
And, like so much of Sex style, it serves a narrative purpose.
"It's a great wink and homage to Carrie's experience in Paris" at the end of the series, says W accessories and jewelry director Brooke Magnaghi. She envisions "die-hard Carrie fans are buying this. It's kind of a fun memento."
Woods, the woman also behind the horse and telephone bags, created the Eiffel Tower purse made from acacia wood four years ago as a valentine to her adopted city. (She has an apartment overlooking the tower.)
"I really wanted it to be very surreal," a la Salvador Dali. "I wanted it to look like it was emerging out of the clouds. Then I decided it should glitter." (The version studded with 6,300 Swarovski stones takes nearly two months to make.)Last summer, Sex costume designer Patricia Field walked into Woods' showroom and asked for the tower tote. Woods had no idea how it would be featured until a friend saw the publicity still on the Internet. Available on her website and on Field's, as well as at Macy's New York Herald Square location, the model is among Woods' top five all-time best sellers. She's been making wood purses for a dozen years, and her current catalog boasts about 100 styles.
"(Carrie) can get away with carrying a funky little bag like that," says Samantha Durbin, editor of FabSugar.com. "It's cinematic. Everyone dreams of Paris. It kind of has that romantic feel to it."
Gloria Shulman bought her Eiffel Tower purse, the sparkly "major one," a month or two ago after spying the photo of Sarah Jessica Parker holding the original one. "It was so darling, and she is such a trendsetter," says Shulman, 60, who owns a Beverly Hills mortgage brokerage — and three dozen other Woods totes, including the horse head. "I don't want to say I copied her — I'm little old for copying — but I enjoy seeing what the latest trends are."
When Pam Price carried her Eiffel Tower to a recent luncheon in La Jolla, Calif., someone thought she had stolen it from Parker, asking, "Where did you get that?"
"I bought it," Price replied; along with a horse head model, the tower sits among her two dozen-strong Timmy Woods collection. "A lot of people think it doesn't open," says Price, 65, a writer and editor in Palm Springs. She manages to squeeze in the essentials: a credit card, $10 bill, tube of lipstick, business card and set of keys.
"You're not carrying your office with you," Price concedes.
But, then, how much time did Carrie spend in an office?
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