In SATC, Style Depicts 'Struggle'

Weddings and babies are chick flick favorites, but Sex and the City's coup de grâce is fashion. It's more than just consumerism: The girls are facing identity loss in their 40s, and "fashion is the metaphor for the struggle," writes Eric Wilson in the New York Times. But Wilson does have a few gripes—with luxury labels, and loss of the girls' individual styles.

In SATC's HBO incarnation, stylist Patricia Field used clothes to express each character—but now they "all appear to have turned into...Carrie, the dominant female." And while HBO's version was lavish, the film displays Gucci prints to the point of distraction. Plus the color coordination can be too much: In one scene, Miranda's yellow turtleneck matches the flowers in Central Park. (More Sex and the City stories.)