This ‘Sex and the City' dress achieved cult status. But it has controversial origins

CNN

a day ago

Remember when Carrie Bradshaw of 'Sex and the City' wore a Christian Dior newspaper-print dress? Bradshaw, the fashion-forward sex columnist, played by Sarah Jessica Parker in the television series, defined late 1990s and early 2000s lifestyle aspirations for Gen X women when she and her three friends dominated the small screen from 1998 to 2004. (The television series and sequel aired on HBO and Max, respectively, which share the same parent company as CNN: Warner Bros. Discovery.)
Cut on the bias and featuring a newspaper print, the now iconic outfit designed by John Galliano became a piece of fashion legend, courtesy of a scene from season three, episode 17, which saw Bradshaw wearing it while walking in slow motion through the traffic-lined streets of Manhattan. In those brief on-screen moments, the dress — which was from Dior's ready-to-wear autumn-winter 2000 'Fly Girl' collection — assured cult status.
In January 2000, Galliano had already been at the helm of Christian Dior for four years, during which he injected the storied French fashion house with an exciting new energy. The British designer had become known for his fantastical collections and elaborate, narrative-driven runway shows. That year, he showed Dior's spring-summer haute couture collection at the Palace of Versailles, the former residence of the French royal family.
Against this decadent backdrop, he sent models down the runway in dresses, jackets and pants made to look stretched, slashed and distressed, accessorized with what looked like garbage found on the street — miniature whiskey bottles, for example, and discarded kitchen utensils. Some models were draped in what appeared to be layers of newspapers reimagined as voluminous pants or peeping through sheer slip dresses.
The collection, titled 'Hobo,' was inspired both by the displaced people the designer saw while jogging and by the 'Tramp Ball' trend from the 1920s and 30s whereby the wealthy dressed as the homeless for glamorous soirees. In this couture collection, the newspaper print was taken from the fashion pages of the International Herald Tribune.
While the fashion press was complimentary of the collection in reviews, controversy soon ensued. Social welfare advocates and French critics were appalled. Was Galliano making a statement on class and privilege with this collection, or mocking the homeless? The homeless community staged protests outside Dior's headquarters in Paris' swanky 8th arrondissement.
The opprobrium caused Galliano to release an official apology ten days after the collection debuted, stating, 'I never wanted to make a spectacle of misery.'
Nevertheless, at Dior's autumn-winter 2000 ready-to-wear show, newspaper print again made its way into the collection, entitled 'Fly Girl.' However, this time Galliano created the fictional 'Christian Dior Daily' newspaper for the show and the design — inspired by Elsa Schiaparelli's 1935 newsprint pattern — which was seen on the runway printed on chiffon, leather, the lining of coats and on dresses. The garment that Parker would later wear was modeled in the fashion show by Angie Schmidt.
In a 'Sex and the City' episode titled 'What Goes Around Comes Around,' which aired in October 2000, Parker's character wore the piece with her signature gold nameplate necklace, black lace Manolo Blahnik heels and a Fendi baguette bag — a vision of the modern New York woman whose glamour outpaced her practicality. While the dress had a controversial 'hobo chic' beginning, on Bradshaw it became emblematic of a new type of heroine — imperfect, neurotic, complicated, messy yet relatable.
Twenty-five years on, the cowl-neck slip dress continues to fascinate. At the May premiere of Jenna Ortega's latest film 'Hurry Up Tomorrow,' the actor made headlines after she arrived onto the red carpet wearing the archival gown. Ortega took a few cues from Parker's on-screen version (she donned a similar gold pendant necklace and smoky eye makeup) but finished the look with a gold slingback heel.
Following its runway debut, the dress went into production. Today, when it shows up on the secondary market or at auctions, it is considered a fashion holy grail, selling for many times its estimate. In December 2024, two identical versions of the historic dress happened to go to auction that same month — the first was at Kerry Taylor Auctions in London, and the second at auction house Sotheby's in New York. In both instances, the dress far exceeded its estimated selling price. In London, it fetched £55,000 ($69,000) — nearly tripling its estimate. And in New York, it more than doubled the expected price, selling for $54,000.
In an email, Sotheby's told CNN that it acquired the coveted dress from a private collector who purchased it new when the 'Fly Girl' collection was first released nearly 25 years ago.
'It is by John Galliano at his peak during the Dior years. This fact alone makes it a desirable vintage collector's item,' said Lucy Bishop, who oversaw Sotheby's 'Fashion Icons' sale.
Galliano later repurposed the print as 'the Galliano Gazette' for his namesake label and has since released several commercial collections featuring the famed motif. None have captured the zeitgeist quite like the original, even though celebrities including Rita Ora have worn an iteration of it.
Galliano was fired from Dior in 2011 for a public antisemitic tirade and ousted from his namesake brand a month later. (He later apologized for his behavior.) But his fashion legacy still inspires. More recently, designer Demna (who only goes by his first name) gave his take on newsprint for Balenciaga's spring-summer 2018 collection, covering cardigans and shirts in the motif as a reaction to 'fake news' made famous by Donald Trump's tweets.
Newspapers, once only a platform to distribute daily happenings, are continuing to inspire, only in a different guise. With nostalgia for 2000s fashion continuing to rise, the popularity of the design has made its way to mainstream fashion brands, with the likes of Réalisation Par, Shein and Zara all releasing their own versions of the print.
So enduring is the style that Bradshaw actually wore the dress again in 2010's 'Sex and the City 2' movie. With the third season of SATC reboot 'And Just Like That…' released this week, whether she'll dig it back out of her closet remains to be seen.