Sex and the Circle

We find great holiday gifts straight from the movie

By Carol Tisch

Fans are abuzz over the 2010 sequel to Sex and City, guaranteed to be the movie most watched and emulated by fashionistas around the globe since the original hit the big screen in May 2008. The stars are striking deals for apparel licensing programs as we speak, and the blogosphere is following every call made by stylist Patricia Fields and crew for clothing and jewelry from manufacturers and designers who stand to cash in even if their merch makes the tiniest cameo appearance.

Thank goodness for Sarasota winters, because you can buy the Lilly Pulitzer look that Charlotte sported for the sequel’s publicity shots right now on St. Armands Circle. Of course no one knows if the preppy skirt Kristin Davis wore while the new movie was being filmed on Fifth Avenue in New York will make the final edit, but we do know retro ‘80s looks are featured in the film’s opening sequence during Carrie Bradshaw ‘s flashback about the day she first met gal pals Samantha and Charlotte.

Shannon Moulton, manager at Lilly Pulitzer on St. Armands Circle has just unpacked the new Originals collection and tells me everyone at Lilly has their fingers crossed about the 1959-ish Roslyn skirt making the cut. But the Originals don’t really need the movie to succeed: the new brochure for the collection has photos of Kathleen Kennedy and her grandmother Rose wearing Lilly shift dresses way back when. On another page, Kick and Kyra Kennedy, daughters of Robert Kennedy Jr., are modeling clothes from the new collection.

“This is classic Lilly,” Moulton explains. “There are shift dresses, Capri pants, skirts, and vintage-inspired patterns like Shell Patch and Not So Crabby. The Originals will debut with this year’s resort group and are planned as a permanent addition to the collection, with new styles changing each season,” she says. The clothes also highlight the company’s Lilly Goes Green campaign, and everything is made with eco conscious factories using organic materials and green processes. As always Lilly colors, patterns and styles are perfect for Sarasota; now we can set trends before the movie is released and way before the weather warms up in New York.

When it comes to Sex and the City fashion statements, you won’t want to miss La Perlelle, a new jewelry store on St. Armands Circle (well actually on Fillmore Drive). Their featured designer, San Francisco-based Masha Archer says she was as surprised as anyone when she saw the movie last year—and Sarah Jessica Parker wearing her necklace of quartz, vintage glass and turquoise baubles on the beach in Mexico (actually L.A.). Apparently, stylists had called in several pieces of Archer’s jewelry, and she didn’t know anything had made the cut.

Who wouldn’t be thrilled with a gift of this jewelry, which captures Archer’s flair for combining eclectic and ancient elements? La Perlelle owner Mindi Meyer has several necklaces (starting at about $1500) from a collection Archer has dubbed Carrie Bradshaw’s Mexico Festival Series. And Meyer is wagering that the series will be updated with new pieces debuting in the movie sequel. Ask to see one of the most popular gifts in the store, the Miranda Earrings by Masha Archer, which go for just $195.