Sex And The City’s memorable scenes as series celebrates 25 year anniversary
Let’s take a stroll down memory lane to relive Sex And The City’s 25 most memorable scenes as the show marks 25 years since its premiere.
It’s been a quarter of a century since Sex And The City first exploded onto our screens.
The HBO series was based on a real-life The New York Observer newspaper column of the same name written by American journalist Candace Bushnell.
The popular column was about Bushnell and her friends navigating life and love in New York City in the ‘90s and, soon enough, her column was turned into a bestseller in 1996 before a television series was born in 1998.
The show – which went for a glorious six seasons and you can watch it all on Binge – follows the dating and relationship dramas of best friends Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis), who we salute for normalising sex talk at brunch, and cocktails at lunch, during a time where women owning their sexuality was considered taboo.
In honour of the characters and the show’s 25th anniversary, let’s take a stroll down memory lane to relive SATC’s 25 most memorable scenes and finest fashion moments.
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1. When Carrie met Mr Big
Carrie Bradshaw whirled into our lives like a tornado spinning tighter than the curls on her head. She was quite something – sweet and sassy, fierce and fantastic with a killer wardrobe to boot.
But her kryptonite was “absof***inglutely” Mr. Big, a wealthy and mysterious businessman she encountered on the very first episode.
Their meet-cute? He knocked down her bag and helped pick up her condoms and cosmetics from the sidewalk. Who knew that would be the start of one epic love affair?
2. Career highlight
Carrie may have often struggled to pay for her New York apartment – she later got a $40,000 loan off Charlotte for a down payment – but she was successful with her writing career.
She later scored a gig at Vogue and her column was even advertised on the side of a bus that travelled throughout Manhattan.
Let’s just ignore the fact that a graffiti penis was later drawn next to her head on the ad, shall we?
3. Baby shower blues
Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte – the ultimate city slickers – looked uncomfortable when they headed out of the city to attend a friend’s baby shower in the suburbs.
For starters, neither wanted to drive their rental car to the event as they were so used to being passenger princesses in a cab.
At the shower, they didn’t mind sticking out like sore thumbs, with only Charlotte wanting to fit in with the mum group.
Not until, she discovered the smug mum-to-be Laney stole her baby name: Shayla. That b***h!
4. Fashion victim
Carrie practically lives in heels, so it was a surprise to see her stack it on the runway when asked to walk Dolce & Gabbana’s show at New York Fashion Week.
She was literally fashion roadkill and making matters worse, supermodel Heidi Klum was walking behind her and had to casually step over her on the runway. The show must go on.
Maybe keep your day job, Carrie?
5. Tutu good
She may have been fashion roadkill, but Carrie was no fashion victim.
From the get-go, Sarah Jessica Parker – with the help of stylist extraordinaire Patricia Field – turned Carrie into a style icon.
Her tutu is iconic and she wore it with pride in the opening credits of the show as she narrowly avoids being splashed by a passing bus advertising her newspaper column on the side. Fun fact: the skirt only cost Field $5 to buy from a bargain bin.
6. Miranda meets Magda
Miranda was used to having the run of the roost, until she hired a new housekeeper, Magda (played by Lynn Cohen).
In her spring-cleaning adventures, Magda was appalled to discover Miranda’s vibrator, so she replaced it with the Virgin Mary. Fair.
The housekeeper then told Miranda she’d need to learn to cook if she ever wants a boyfriend.
7. Cowboy Carrie meets Natasha
Wearing a cowboy hat, python boob-tube and gypsie skirt was not the way Carrie wanted to meet her ex Mr Big’s new girlfriend, Natasha (played by Bridget Moynahan). But that’s the way the cookie crumbled.
She also thought he had left New York for work, only to run into him again at a Hamptons party with a significantly younger woman in tow. And what’s more? Big and Natasha were engaged...
8. The name necklace
Cosmopolitans and her Carrie necklace. Signature Carrie pieces.
When SJP started wearing the nameplate on the show, hands down every woman had to have one. Always setting the trend.
9. Charlotte’s wedding to Trey
Charlotte thought she finally found her happily ever after, but it turned out her new husband Trey (played by Kyle MacLachlan) couldn’t even give her a happy ending as he couldn’t perform in the bedroom.
The pair hadn’t slept together until the eve of their wedding when Charlotte tried to seduce him and he couldn’t “get it up”.
10. Not her best look
Carrie was stoked to learn she would be on the cover of New York Magazine – her dream come true.
Until it quickly proved to be her worst nightmare when the cover was printed with the snarky cover line: “Single and Fabulous?”
She was furious with the photo chosen and the question mark used as she was under the impression it would read, “Single and fabulous!” with an exclamation point.
11. Signature look
In case New York Magazine needed reminding, Carrie can be stylish when she wants to be.
One of her fashion go-to’s on the show was a basic white tank top with a flower broach pinned on the straps. Easy, effortless, chic.
12. Charlotte’s water breaks
Although Charlotte was the more prim and proper character on the show, she knew how to throw down for her friends.
In this particular scene, she confronted Mr Big over his constant hot-and-cold treatment of Carrie only for the mum-to-be’s water to break on the sidewalk.
And throughout it all, Charlotte manages to keep up her signature Park Avenue Pollyanna look.
13. Ex and the City
Carrie crossed paths with Mr Big outside his engagement party with Natasha in what was arguably one of the show’s most iconic scenes.
In the pivotal moment, Carrie decided to let him go once and for all by paying homage to
the classic 1973 film, The Way We Were, starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford.
“Your girl is lovely, Hubbell,” Carrie says, borrowing a quote from the movie.
Big said he didn’t get it and Carrie replied: “And you never did.”
14. Miranda becomes a mama
Carrie rushed to Miranda’s side when she was in labour with Brady only for the unthinkable to happen – Miranda’s water broke all over Carrie’s shoes.
Hot pink Christian Louboutin heels, for that matter.
15. Miranda marries Steve
It took a while to get there – she only just told him she loved him – but Miranda finally made it official with bartender Steve, the father of her son Brady.
She was a reluctant bride, shunning the traditional white dress for a bold velvet blazer.
16. Samantha nailed it
Carrie wasn’t the only one with style on SATC. Public relations guru Samantha Jones gave Carrie a run for her money in the fashion stakes.
Whether going tonal, colour-blocking, or opting for over-the-top, Samantha always nailed it.
17. Break-up note
Well, this was one way to end a relationship.
Carrie heard the message loud and clear when her boyfriend Berger (played Ron Livingston) broke up with her using a Post-It note.
Also a writer, he had grown jealous of her success and had a hard time being in her shadow.
Naturally, Carrie was livid and went out on a bender that evening, which ended with her in a police car after she was busted smoking pot.
18. Samantha knows spin
Leave it to Samantha to know how to spin a scenario in her favour.
In Sex and the City’s second movie, the renowned publicist, 52, was floored when she attended an event in the same outfit as “teen queen” Miley Cyrus, but she didn’t let them see her sweat.
Instead, she walked up to Miley – making a cameo as herself in the film – and complimented her on the outfit before the pair posed for photos together on the red carpet.
19. Back with Big
Their on-off relationship appeared to be on again after Carrie met Big at the Central Park Boathouse for lunch.
Things got awkward when Carrie thought Big was going to kiss her, and when she freaked out, they both fell into the water for an impromptu dip.
Shame, as Carrie looked ace in her flowery and billowy Richard Tyler dress.
20. Stand-up guy
Samantha dated a slew of guys on the show, but it was Smith (played by Jason Lewis) who really stood by her side in sickness and in health.
The model even stood in solidarity with Samantha after she lost her hair due to her chemotherapy cancer treatments.
In a touching scene, Samantha struggled as she attempted to shave her head, so Smith took the lead and went first. What a keeper.
21. Carrie gets engaged
Mr Big, who? Aside from Big, Carrie’s other great love was Aidan.
He eventually popped the question when they were taking his dog, Pete, for a walk – and an elated Carrie said yes.
She was convinced he would propose with a “pear shaped diamond with a gold band” but he surprised her with a Harry Winston, three-carat Asscher-cut diamond.
However, it’s clear she was not sure about the engagement as she started wearing the diamond around her neck, claiming it was because it was “closer to her heart”. Their relationship fizzled soon after.
22. Carrie moves to Paris
No one thought Carrie would ever leave New York, so it was a mega plot twist when she made the move to Paris to live with her new love, ‘the Russian’ Aleksandr Petrovsky (played by Mikhail Baryshnikov).
Before the big move, she and Mr Big had a tense conversation in which he tried to plead with her not to leave. But it was too little, too late.
“You and I NOTHING!” she famously yelled at him. “You cannot do this to me again. You cannot jerk me around. Forget you know my number. In fact, forget you know my name.”
23. Lost in Paris
Paris was not the happily ever after she was expecting as Aleksandr was off doing his own thing.
After losing her Carrie necklace and feeling like she’d also lost herself, Carrie finally conceded it wasn’t working out.
“I am someone who is looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can’t-live-without-each-other love,” she told him.
In later scenes, Big is spotted running into the hotel lobby and she collapses into his arms.
“It took me a really long time to get here, but I’m here. Carrie, you’re the one,” he later proclaimed as they made plans to return to New York.
24. Back in New York
Carrie returned to her stomping ground in New York, and she and Big were now in an exclusive relationship.
In the final scene on the series, he called her mobile phone and - after six seasons - we finally see what his real name was: John.
And just like that, as Carrie walks down busy Manhattan in her stylish get-up, Sex And The City draws to a close.
25. The Big proposal
OK, so this technically didn’t happen on the series but rather in the Sex And The City movie in 2008, but it’s a major development and still counts as part of the overal story.
Big initially asked Carrie to marry him casually from across their kitchen table and they calmly and rationally discussed the idea of it.
The pair then looe their way during the process of wedding planning and Big stands her up at the altar.
At the end of the movie, after much grovelling, he got down on one knee this time and proposed with a blue satin bejewelled Manolo Blahnik heel. Now that’s a man that knows who he’s marrying.
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