Sex and the City style, take two

Information is thin on the ground for the next Sex and the City movie, to be released on May 28, 2010. Called Sex and the City 2 — though we’re hoping that’s a working title that will be changed to one with more je ne sais quoi — there’s been a strict lockdown on all script details and only a few tantalizing nuggets have escaped the sets.

For one, SATC 2 has been filming not only in New York but also in Morocco, where the crew stayed for six weeks. “You’ll probably see belly dancers and Bedouins!” costume designer Patricia Field has revealed.

Word is there will be appearances by Penélope Cruz, Miley Cyrus and Liza Minnelli. In the movie, Cyrus reportedly shops with Samantha Jones (played by Kim Cattrall), so one might deduce she’s a new client of the PR diva, who has left LA and boyfriend Smith Jerrod, and is back in New York, single, with a vengeance.

But, as with all things SATC, the juiciest news involves the clothes. There was a rumored catfight between Sarah Jessica Parker and costumer Pat Field, who didn’t see eye-to-eye on the fashion direction Carrie Bradshaw was supposed to take. In step with the times, SJP envisioned Carrie as going from fashionista to recessionista, while Field, who made SATC the influential fashion juggernaut it is today, didn’t want to deviate from her usual luxe, flamboyant style.

“I don’t use the recession as a reference for my creativity, true,” Field said. “I am furious and had a row with Sarah Jessica over whatever? False.”

Whatever the case, the outcome has been caught on camera on the New York set. There has indeed been a slight trimming down … and I’m not talking about cast weight loss. Once-complicated ensembles now seem to be limited to simply cut dresses juiced up with a chic bag and killer heels. If Carrie wears jewelry at all, it looks like she could have picked it up from a flea market, and — gasp — in one scene she actually repeats one of her most memorable looks: the Christian Dior newspaper dress so beloved in Season 3, this time updated with lace booties and a cloverleaf necklace, which looks to be Carrie’s signature neckwear this time around.

From the photographic evidence, it looks like quilted clutches and roomy tote bags are really going to be in next year, but the most intriguing (and funniest) photos show the fab four in ’80s getup. 

“It was in the beginning of the movie,” Field explained. “Carrie was waiting to meet her girlfriends and she was thinking about when she first moved to New York in the ’80s and how she met Samantha and Charlotte. They’re all, in real time, meeting to go shopping. And in her flashback time, she is thinking of when she first met each one of them.”

Wonder what Carrie, who obviously worshipped at the altar of Madonna, made of Samantha, who dressed more like a rocker in the vein of Heart; Charlotte, who was always a prepster with Skipper doll/Stepford Wife tendencies; and Miranda, the young New York lawyer clad in shoulder-padded power suit and Reeboks.

Guess we’ll just have to watch the movie to find out.