And Just Like That…’s costume designers reveal how they create the series’ showstopping style

The Sex And The City sequel series And Just Like That… certainly has had its ups and downs. But, there’s no denying that the fashion, as in the original show, is a weekly highlight. Somehow Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte look just as fabulously stylish in their 50s as they did in their their 30s, if not even more so. What’s their secret?

The series’ exemplary fashion-forward stance may be even more surprising since lead designer Patricia Field is not longer at the helm (she’s off outfitting the cast in one fabulous frock after the next on Peyton Manning’s favorite Netflix series, Emily In Paris.) Fortunately, Molly Rogers and Danny Santiago were able to step in. The pair (@andjustlikethatcostumes on Instagram) had worked with Field on the original series and the Sex And The City movies, so were already very family with outfitting returning cast members Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis.

But as our own pandemic wardrobe grew stretchier and stretchier, we couldn’t help but wonder… what is the secret to looking fashionable at any age? And where did all those great clothes come from? Rogers and Santiago were happy to reveal some advice for the fashion inept, shout out their own favorite outfits on the show, and tell the backstories behind some of the chicest ensembles.

Molly Rogers: We met through [Patricia Field]. Pat was a Miami Beach fan in the ’80s. And bought a place down here. Danny was already established.

Danny Santiago: We all met socially, and I was in between here in New York, going back and forth, and Molly and Pat were working on their projects and doing their film. And the first time that we actually worked on a project was for the [Sex And The City] movie, right after the series. I had a little bit of photoshoot stuff with the girls during the series while it was airing. When the movie came up, I came and joined Pat and Molly for the first movie, and then we did the second one together.

MR: Yeah, when Pat and I got the first movie, Pat was like, “I really want to surprise and inspire SJ. And I think we need to show like more and expanded things to her.” And she was like, I think we need to add Danny to the team because of his editorial experience and his deep, deep immersion in vintage. And it was really great for that first movie.

DS: It was essential. And Molly and Pat have always used vintage and resale clothes, always in their telling of the story so that people can get it the world, and just mash together really well. It was a great experience. We had so much fun doing it and I was so blessed and happy and grateful to be able to come in and be a part of the brand. We got along great and it was just a great working relationship. And Molly and I have been working since then on different projects on and off of the movies.

MR: I think that, you know, the original TV show we lived at Century 21 and consignment shops like Ina’s in New York. And when it came around to the first movie, we were like more and just wider perspective, and it was really great to add someone to that.

DS: I remember SJ’s comment, “Bring it all in, as much as you can.” [Laughs.] She wanted no stone left unturned. So we dug and we brought everything that we possibly could.

MR: That kind of started in season six of the original show. We had the first meeting with SJ on season six. She told Pat, “I really want to wear things that are not identifiable, like no one’s going to know that I’m in look 17 of blah blah blah.” So that was her direction on the sixth season. And then for the first movie, we were like, “Okay, we need to deep dive into archives for this.”

DS: The first movie we had Gaultier archives, we had Hervé Léger archives and pieces from people’s private collections, and stuff like that that they lent us for all the girls that we used.

AVC: So jumping ahead to this series: Since you’ve worked with these women before, what kind of sensibility did you bring to them at this age versus where they were 20 years ago? As a fiftysomething woman myself, that’s one of my favorite things about watching the show because let me tell you, after the pandemic, my wardrobe is so pathetic.

MR: Everyone’s is.

DS: Everyone’s!

MR: I think we’ve all re-examined our closets. That’s a sentiment across the board for sure, no matter what age you are.

AVC: So how did you guys approach the fashion from a fiftysomething angle versus a thirtysomething angle?

MR: Well, one thing that I think influenced us greatly is we really did not look at age or numbers.

DS: At all.

MR: And the other thing that I think I didn’t quite realize how much we were going to cull from it, but we had SJ’s archives. So the script called for the closet still being there and the old apartment. And that was just such a great thing, to be able to incorporate, into the new show look, things from the past. We tried to use them where they had a purpose. Storytelling like the blue Manolos. Yeah. The [studded] Roger belt, you know.

AVC: So Sarah Jessica Parker kept all the clothes?

MR: Not all of them, but a lot. The fourth or fifth season, we did a big sale with Ina and cleaned out their closet, but that was mostly things that the girls had not worn from the series. And then SJ really started to keep outfits intact. I would say from the Staten Island ferry outfit, “I lost my Choo!”, to present, she started keeping things.

AVC: So people are really into the wardrobe. Like, they’re pointing out that like the purple baguette bag that Carrie had at the bodega was the same bag that got stolen in SATC season three. So it raises this question of how did she get the bag back? But that’s how invested people are in even in the accessories.

MR: I think it got stolen, and then years later, she saw it and she snatched it. That’s what we would do if we ever saw anything we lost, right?

DS: So sometimes there’ll be something with a vintage piece that I remember, like, “Oh my gosh, that Helmut Lang whatever from the ’90s or that Saint Laurent is from the ’70s that somebody I knew had it” and stuff like that. And when you find it again, it’s like, “Wow, I can snatch that and actually own it again” or have it; it’s a piece of history at that point.

AVC: So after you reach a certain age, you start to see all these things on your feed like, “Don’t wear a short skirt over the age of 40” or whatever. Are you saying we can throw all that stuff out the window? Because that would be great.

DS: Yeah, totally.

MR: Yeah, at a certain age, your body naturally changes. And it has nothing to do with you not going to the gym or whatever. It’s hormonal. And I think you don’t change out of your wardrobe lane. You still like the things you like, but maybe there’s a certain part of your body you want to cover up. Like Diane Keaton in a turtleneck, she obviously doesn’t want to show her neck. As when you were younger, you had problem areas or whatever, you’re aware of them.

DS: You figure it out.

MR: I think the main thing which was kind of our mantra in the fitting room was, “Do you feel good in this? Do you feel confident?”

DS: 100%, yes.

MR: I think Danny and I felt like the only person we really had to kind of maneuver a little bit in her lane was Miranda because she had a different hair color, which was wonderful. I call it silver, not gray, right? And she was not a corporate lawyer. She’s going to school at Columbia. So, you know, that kind of that part of the storyline affected, like what she was wearing when she’s dragging around this huge knapsack that they were all insistent that she carry.

DS: That obviously didn’t come from us. [Laughs.]

AVC: What about Charlotte? Like, as a mom, my kids are her kids’ age, so I’m fascinated by her gorgeous dresses that I would wear to a school fundraising event, but I would not wear around the house. And she’s just like wearing this beautiful A-line dress, making snacks in the kitchen…

MR: Dropping the kids off at school…

AVC: Exactly. Was there a certain housewife-like sensibility you wanted to bring to modern-day Charlotte?

MR: I mean, there was one thing at the very beginning. She was walking that dog, Richard Burton.

AVC: Oh, he’s so great.

MR: And we had a big knockdown drag-out fight about should she be walking that dog in running clothes? And Danny and I were like, “Over our dead body.”

Basically, number one, we are not shooting a documentary. And number two, Pat had established the DNA of that show as heightened. So we’re not putting her in a Zoom outfit. No way. She is going to be preppy, Upper East Side Charlotte. That show is a moving fashion magazine, so let’s not get real. We don’t like reality.

AVC: Is there a particular outfit from the series that you would like to point out as one of your favorites, or a throwback to the previous series?

DS: I mean, we all have certain favorites that we loved throughout during shooting. One of mine was that madras jumpsuit that Carrie wears when she goes with Seema to go look at apartments. It’s like this great Kamali vintage Madras jacket and silk jumpsuit. I love that. I just thought it was playful and whimsical and such a fun outfit for her to wear.

MR: Yeah, she needed a little talking into it, remember? When she first saw that Madras, let’s call it a suit, she was like, “I think that’s a little wacky.” The next fitting for the next episode, there happened to be a scene and she was like, “Oh, that’s so colorful and fierce. It works there. Let me try it.”

DS: Yeah. It was so much fun, and people really liked that one. But it is something that Carrie would wear because she has such a variety of types of looks that she loves to wear, and it’s all how she feels for that day or how she wants to feel. She dresses for herself. So for me, that was a really fun outfit for what I thought the scene was.

MR: That really captured it, Danny. I absolutely adored the I Love Central Park sweatshirt, the vintage dress with the train. I just thought that was also like the quintessential Carrie, that mix of vintage and sport sweatshirt.

I think people that are fans of the show were so excited to see their old friends again—old as in as they’ve known them a long time—and excited to see those accessories. Like oh my gosh, the Rogers belt. It’s been really fun for us.

AVC: The studded belt on the purple dress.

MR: People are like, “Oh my gosh, she still has the Roger.” You know all of us were looking at our closets during the pandemic, like, “Okay, some of the stuff I need to toss, and some of it’s still worthy.”

AVC: Or like the outfit Carrie wears to the bodega with the big full skirt and the striped top. That was a throwback to the original series also, right?

MR: Yes. And I have to tell you, I wish I’d written this down, but yesterday I was watching somebody’s fashion show. I don’t know who it was—I think it was happening in Paris. And there was a full-length tutu coming down the runway and I was like, “It’s good we sent it to the bodega, right?”

AVC: So you guys are talking about a lot of vintage stuff. Did you do a lot of shopping at consignment shops before the series started? You had the archive of the old outfits, but you also looked for newer stuff, right? How does that process work?

DS: Before we even came up to New York, we had two weeks of prep here in Florida and South Florida, and we would basically every day go shopping. And we went everywhere between Miami and Palm Beach, hitting consignment stores, vintage stores, resale shops, the flea market—as well as the outlet mall here for the designer brand. We just had so many things that we found here that we knew we weren’t going to find up in New York possibly. And we really just hoarded it and got as much as we could.

I also have an archive of vintage clothing of my own that I brought up and we ended up with 12 rolling racks of clothes and boxes. Drove a huge truck from Miami to New York to bring it all up.

It was such a great thing to get a start on. You know, we really were able to wrap our heads around these characters and go out and have that mindset like, “Okay, we need to look for these special type of things. We have an idea for this type of silhouette. Let’s go see what we can find,” and we just uncovered amazing things. We lucked out.

AVC: And then what happens? You get the script and you’re like, “Oh, Carrie’s going out to dinner. This would be a good outfit for Charlotte at the school.” Do you draft outfits in your mind as you go through the script?

MR: You kind of feel it out generally for things that we like and bring it all in the room. And then it starts to land into, you know, in front of garment bags for certain things. I mean, yes, when you read in the script that [Carrie’s] going to be projectile vomiting, you definitely don’t get one of the couture outfits.

AVC: And sometimes there is some back and forth with the actors like, “Can we try something else?” But it sounds like you guys are usually able to steer the costume direction.

MR: They are all so immersed into the action and the energy of the fitting room. It is just too collaborative to say, “Oh, I thought of that idea.” The combined effort is really great.

AVC: So what are some tips we can take from you to the outlet mall? The department store? How do you guys find the good stuff?

DS: It’s like a treasure hunt. I mean, we never know exactly what we’re going to find, but we just really scour through everything. Like Molly and I were at the Woodbury Commons [outlet mall]. And typically, you know, we were walking through and going to our stores that we always like and certain brands that we really love. And we came across the Armani store, and we don’t typically put anybody in Armani for the women. And we were like, “Let’s check it out. Let’s see what’s there.” And we found some really great pieces that played in the show that we ended up using.

MR: I was like, “Well, what scene is that for?” And Danny was like, “I don’t know. I just love it.” And we do shop what we love. But that was Pat’s big shopping question. You would show something to Pat, and she would say, “Well, where, what scene, what’s it for?” So she would make you give a reason why you wanted it.

DS: So the perfect example is that gown that Lisette is passed out in on the couch. We cut the lining out of it, so it would just transform, you could just see her body through it. And it was such a beautiful piece and we bought it because it was 80% off of the price. It was like some, like $14,000, $15,000 dress that we got for, I think, $800 or something. It was the only one that they had in there and I was just like, “I know I’m crazy, but I think this is such an amazing piece” and we fell in love with it. We found some amazing jewelry that we that we got there. We found an amazing pair of trousers there with suspenders. We really scored off of their stuff.

So that’s why I say sometimes you got to pull yourself out of your go-tos and really hunt for things and you will be surprised sometimes what you find. Because sometimes you have in your mindset, “Will they only have this sort of thing at this store?” But if you hunt and you dig, you uncover things that you didn’t think you were going to find.

AVC: So what’s the best fashion advice you can offer us? For women of any age, but especially, as we get a little older, maybe we’re feeling less confident. How can we use our wardrobe to help sell ourselves?

MR: And you’re busier too, right? I seem to have this attitude like Dan did with that gown. He loved it. He didn’t know where it was going to go. And he found a place for it. And I think it has to be pieces that make you feel confident or give you that little spa feeling. When you put it on, you’re like, “Oh, I look so pretty and this necklace fits all my T-shirts,” right?

DS: It’s fun to experiment. And it’s fun to play with fashion. And, you know, don’t don’t lose sight of fashion. I think it’s taken so seriously, but you know where have fun with it.

AVC Sometimes it feels like people can be afraid of making a fashion faux pas. But are there really any faux pas anymore? Not as long as you like it, right?

DS: No, not if you enjoy it!

MR: I was watching Euphoria last night and all these kids dressed like, there’s no rules, just like Carrie always did, right? Like the combinations they put together. Is there a rule? No, not anymore. You wear white after Labor Day.