Some Thoughts on the Main Character in 'And Just Like That...'

I'm not talking about Carrie and I am talking about Carrie.

Warning And Just Like That... spoilers ahead:

No matter what you think of And Just Like That..., the new series about the women from Sex and the City, there is no denying that the costumes are, once again, a character in and of themselves. On the most recent episode, “Diwali,” Carrie is on a hasty mission to move on from the trauma of losing her husband, and into a new chapter of her life. She keeps her old things locked away in a massive storage unit that would cost more than my rent. She tries to move downtown – away from the Upper East Side life she’s known for several decades, and she even contemplates a face lift that would “erase the last fifteen years.”

Ultimately, she realizes she doesn’t want to do any of those things, and in the last part of the episode, we see her back in her old apartment where she is seemingly staying. In the final scene, she looks into the mirror hanging in her old bathroom and sighs as she puts on her “Carrie” necklace, a symbol of the character we all loved (or loved to hate) from twenty years ago.

In the first few episodes, I assumed the exclusion of the old necklace in favor of colorful beaded strands by jewelry designer Allison Fry was a way to separate the two shows – and the two versions of the character. The 30-something Carrie who dressed up in a beret and threw french fries at the wall had grown up, and so too would the accessory hanging around her neck. In watching this episode, though, I realize that this most recent moment was what it was all leading to. Big’s death, the casual cigarette, and the return of her blonde curly hair were all about Carrie’s pre-Big (and pre-Petrovsky) personality coming to life in a new decade. Interestingly, in the series finale, we saw a similar moment with this necklace. She thought she lost it in Paris and tried to replace it with a diamond that ultimately breaks. When she finds it, we as an audience get the same idea. The true essence of Carrie is back.

It’s a cliched metaphor that was, admittedly, satisfying to watch in the new series. The Carrie necklace was as much of a character as Carrie herself. Now we realize it’s almost like Melisandra’s necklace, unlocking a piece of youth or self when it's worn. If this is a set up for the second half of the season, perhaps we’ll see the characters stop pretending like they’ve changed outside of having significantly more money, and revert back to a time when their flaws made them both insufferable and entertaining.

For what it's worth, the Carrie necklace as a trend that spawned from the show, has been dissected for decades with many critics and historians breaking down the cultural significance of the nameplate for different people. The original costume designer Patricia Field’s admitted to InStyle that she got the necklace idea from a local New York City shop that “a lot of the kids in the neighborhood” bought them from and just kind of ran with it. It was originally supposed to be a character quirk (part of Carrie’s often problematic views of what is cheesy and what is high brow), but evolved into what we see it as today. The necklace is an essential part of Carrie’s persona.

Before I finish this rambling of thoughts, one other costume bit I couldn’t stop thinking about after watching the episode: what was the Fendi sandal that Carrie lost zip lining? Like give us a season or collection at least so I can understand how tragic that is. Were they the raffia gladiators circa 2015? Or classic leather signature slides? If it was the latter, maybe she got what she deserved. Who would wear those on a zip-line?

Thoughts on the return of the Carrie necklace? Let's talk about it below!