This Was Almost the Opening of ‘Sex and the City’ (Can You Spot What’s Missing?)
Picture the opening credits to Sex and the City: the throwback theme music, the skyscrapers, the great big bus splash on Carrie’s legs and that itsy-bitsy pink tutu that defines Carrie Bradshaw. With that one item, the opening sets up the essence of Carrie—a woman who wears eccentric, child-like costumes and pulls them off surprisingly well.
But wait, Entertainment Weekly got a hold of old footage from the show’s cutting room floor and discovered an alternate version execs had initially considered.
In the opening sequence that was scrapped two decades ago, Bradshaw appears in a look that’s a bit less dramatic than her legendary tutu—a cocktail-length blue dress. “There were two wardrobes,” show creator Darren Starr told EW. “One was the tutu, and we did one pass where Sarah Jessica was wearing a blue dress and didn’t get splashed; instead, she trips when she sees the ad. In my mind, it was a nod to The Dick Van Dyke show, but we didn’t use it. It’s in the archives.”
Patricia Field, the show’s costume designer, found the unforgettable tutu in a $5 bin on a showroom floor, and immediately took to it, going on to make four other versions. “It was very difficult for the producers to understand the tutu,” said Field. “Sarah Jessica and I were fighting for it, and Darren said, ‘Okay, but I want other outfits as possibilities.’ It was such a brilliant choice because, in a way, Carrie’s dancing through her life in New York.”
We wouldn’t want it any other way.
Which opening do you like better? Let us know @BritandCo!
(h/t Entertainment Weekly; Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)
