Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) has always been bold when it comes to her personal style. Legendary costume designer and stylist Patricia Fields famously put her in a tutu skirt for Sex and the City‘s iconic opening credits, Jimmy Choos became a staple of many fashionistas’ wardrobes because of Carrie’s obsession with them, and her fictional wedding gown garnered the attention of Vogue.
However, every once in a while, the And Just Like That… heroine goes a little too far. Patterns don’t just clash, they battle. Kooky accessories overpower an entire otherwise polished look. Essentially, Carrie wears something batshit crazy.
If you were wondering when that moment would strike in And Just Like That… Season 3 on MAX, good news! Carrie wears a super duper oversized tradwife-inspired bonnet in And Just Like That… Season 3 Episode 1 “Outlook Good,” now streaming on MAX.
At one point during the And Just Like That… Season 3 premiere, Carrie and her pal Seema (Sarita Choudhury) are enjoying a leisurely stroll in the park. Both ladies are dressed head to toe in what are obviously designer duds, but Carrie has topped her look off with the most absurdly huge bonnet I’ve seen in my life. The hat is so big, so poofy, so brown, so wrong, I couldn’t even tell you what the ladies were talking about because I was literally screaming at my screen.
(In fact, I was so distressed that I took my laptop — which is the device I watched my And Just Like That… screeners on last week — and turned the screen towards my coworkers so they could see it for themselves. They laughed.)
I understand the concept fully. As Carrie enters a new phase of her life where she lives like a grand dame in a Henry James novel, she’s embracing the styles and silhouettes of yesteryear. Her colors are more muted, her dresses more draped than body-conscious. The gingham bonnet (with strings!) is an exaggerated “fashion” take on Laura Ingalls Wilder core. Okay, I get it. And Just Like That… costume designers Molly Rogers and Danny Santiago are giving Carrie tradwife by way of Philip Treacy.
It’s just a big fat no from me, dawg. The hat is just so voluminous that it threatens to devour Sarah Jessica Parker’s entire skull. It’s so silly. Just so, so silly.
And then, at the back of my head, there is a little voice. Much like Carrie Bradshaw’s own internal monologue, it can’t help but wonder if everything I hate about this hat is ironically what makes it great. Carrie Bradshaw is not a real woman. She’s an iconoclastic fantasy of one. Carrie Bradshaw never follows the same standards of style we do. In fact, she defies them. So, of course, this is a classic Carrie hat.
I still think it looks silly, though.