From Carrie to orgasms, via a Cosmopolitan or two, Sex And The City

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Dec 29, 2002 | by Charlene Sweeney

N is for New York It's glamorous, it's hip and it's happening - it's New York. Sex And The City wouldn't be the same without its backdrop of trendy Manhattan bars, Fifth Avenue designer boutiques and Greenwich Village eateries. The downside of NYC's frenetic 24/7 lifestyle, as the series points out, is that even the most desireable men and women can't sustain a decent relationship. Visitors to New York can now go on Sex And The City tours as it seems the series has become as much a part of New York as New York is a part of it.

O is for orgasm Shere Hite may have brought the female orgasm in from the cold but SATC asked it to sit at the kitchen table and offered it a cup of tea. From Charlotte's dalliances with a pink vibrator called The Rabbit to Samantha's short-lived horror at losing her mojo, the big O has been demystified in a way that even how-to manual The Joy Of Sex didn't manage.

P is for Patricia The US equivalent to Zandra Rhodes, wacky fashion designer Patricia Field is the series' wardrobe director. Parker may wear the clothes that high street retailers rush to copy, but it's Field who selects them. Ladies, if in recent times you've worn a corsage, flat cap or culottes you have Field to thank (or conversely, curse).

Q is for queens Camper than Butlins, the sex series is loved by gay men. It has its own honorary queen, Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson), a chum of Carrie's whose caustic sense of humour acts as a foil to Carrie's sunny nature. Like all fictional gay men Carrie can rely on him to escort her to parties when she doesn't have a beau.

R is for re-virginised She may be the programme's prude but that doesn't prevent Charlotte from having some of the best lines: "I read that if you don't have sex for a year, you can actually become 'revirginized'." Enough said.

S is for shoes Carrie's passion for eye-wateringly high heels has made household names of shoe designers Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik. Jimmy Choo's Manhattan store is the first stop on the Sex And The City tour and Manolo Blahnik has created a new line of shoes, SJP. S also refers to Samantha Jones, played by Kim Cattrall, the PR guru who's had sex with so many men in Manhattan, she is worried she'd run out of fresh meat.

Another significant S is Steve, the father of Miranda's son. Miranda slept with ex Steve Brady (David Eigenberg) out of sympathy, as his brush with testicular cancer had dented his sexual confidence. He also believed he was now shooting blanks, hence the unplanned pregnancy.

T is for Trey When Charlotte married quasi-aristo Trey McDougal (Kyle MacLachlan) she couldn't believe her luck. As well as being stinking rich he had the kind of blue-blood Scottish ancestry that money can't buy. Nevertheless, repeated impotence, an unhealthy dependence on his mother and a reluctance to become a father meant Charlotte was unable to make the alliance work - even if she did get to keep the million-dollar apartment.

U is for uptown Like the Billy Joel song written for model Christie Brinkley, Carrie and her pals are Uptown Girls, the NY version of our own It Girls, but more capricious. In a cool way.