Carrie Bradshaw is back on the big screen this month and while it’s unlikely she’ll be sporting eco-fashion in the SATC 2 movie, the ultimate fashion-loving gal offers you, the eco-chic dresser, some great insight into creating a look you’ll love and that you won’t want to throw away.

I must be kidding, right? Surely, her piles of shoes and expensive designer flaunting symbolize all that is wrong with our society’s promiscuous shopping ways. She seems the epitome of what the conscious consumer wants to avoid”¦ I agree. At a certain point (around season 5, when she lands her book offer) her look indeed tipped into a parody of excess and shameless high fashion advertising. But, back in the early days (while a writer with a modest income), Carrie’s stylish kitschy wardrobe was created mainly from vintage and thrift store finds and punctuated with some much cherished high heeled shoes and a large dose of fearless creative spirit. Wasn’t it the way she thought and related to getting dressed that we connected to, rather than the increasingly beyond-our-means outfits she indulges in now?

I couldn’t help but wonder if the original Carrie’s fashion insights could apply to those of us seeking to change the world by reframing the way we consume fashion one recycled, organic, locally made, fair trade piece at a time.

Accessories

Carrie knew the importance of a well-placed accessory to both transform and give an existing outfit further mileage. Remember the signature huge corsage that was pinned on everything from ball gowns to t-shirts? Try her trick of using a statement-making pair of shoes to offset and modernize a simple thrift store dress.

Dress in character

Which one were you? Edgy, offbeat Carrie or the demure garden-party princess Charlotte? Either way the point of glamor is the act of becoming someone different. Carrie is an incredibly mercurial dresser, always dressing appropriately for her mood or the occasion, using fashion as a tool of self-expression. With all the negative things going on in the world, fashion is the place you can still have fun!

To thine own self be true

Carrie is a trendsetter rather than being a slave to fast-fashion’s fickle trends. The best way of maintaining a wardrobe that always feels current is to create a signature look that keeps your carefully selected pieces in constant rotation.

Follow your heart

To avoid a closet full of clothes you don’t wear, it’s important to fall in love with each piece you buy.  A lover of both heirloom and street treasures, such as the gold Carrie necklace, Carrie forms a deeply personal attachment to both her clothes and to the process of getting dressed.

Ironically, Carrie Bradshaw’s fashion message is the ultimate eco-chic statement. That is cycling back the idea of fashion as an act of fun and creativity rather than an act of consumption. Now that’s something worth sharing with your girlfriends!

Image: SATC 2

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