'Sex and the City': Samantha Jones Wasn't the Only Character Who Couldn't Score a Real Birkin Bag

Sarah Jessica Parker returned to her iconic role of Carrie Bradshaw in the 2021 Sex and the City reboot. The years between the original series and And Just Like That… had been financial kind to the fictional character. Carrie, after the death of Mr. Big, was ridiculously wealthy. The Carrie of the early 2000s wasn’t nearly as well-off. While Carrie wasn’t shy about shelling out a lot of money for shoes, apparently, she couldn’t always afford designer handbags. Believe it or not, Parker revealed that Carrie was carrying a fake Birkin bag in season 5. 

Sarah Jessica Parker revealed Carrie’s season 5 Birkin bag was a fake 

Season 5 of Sex and the City was cut short to accommodate Parker’s pregnancy. Cynthia Nixon, the actor who portrayed Miranda Hobbes, was pregnant at the same time. The show’s writers included her pregnancy in the show. They didn’t do the same with Parker’s. While the production team abbreviated the season, Parker was still very much pregnant during filming. 

The show’s stylist, Patricia Field, often paired flowier outfits with large handbags to hide Parker’s stomach. In one season 5 episode, Field dressed Parker in a bright green Juicy Couture dress. A blue purse that looked an awful lot like the beloved and impossible-to-find Hermès Birkin bag was in her hand to cover whatever bump the dress didn’t. Carrie never acknowledged the bag nor mentioned its designer in the episode.

There was a good reason for that, apparently. Parker recently destroyed the illusion that Carrie was carrying an authentic Birkin bag. In an interview with Vogue, Parker revealed that while the dress was real, the bag was a copycat. She went on to say that bag’s entire job was to hide her stomach, although it didn’t do a great job of that, either. 

A season 4 storyline revolved around a similar bag 

While Carrie was seen walking around New York City with a Birkin lookalike in season 5, it wasn’t the first time someone on Sex and the City mentioned the luxury brand. In the season 4 episode, “Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda,” Samantha Jones set out to purchase an Hermès Birkin bag after Lucy Liu hired her as her publicist. 

While Samantha was more than prepared to pay for the bag, a waitlist was standing in her way. She lied and said the purse was for Lucy Liu, hoping to circumvent the line. It didn’t exactly work. In the end, Samantha didn’t get her bag, and Lucy Liu fired her. 

Did ‘Sex and the City’ make the Birkin bag iconic? 

While most people considered the Birkin bag a status symbol long before Sex and the City, the series introduced the brand to a wider audience. According to Fashionista, the real life waitlist for the coveted bag tripled after the Sex and the City episode aired. Now, the iconic tote is forever associated with the series. 

Sex and the City isn’t the only series that has mentioned the famed handbags, though. Believe it or not, Sex and the City and Gilmore Girls have a lot in common, and an interest in Birkin bags is one of those things. In Gilmore Girls, Logan Huntzberger gifted Rory Gilmore with a Birkin bag. The gift sends Emily Gilmore into a frenzy. Rory received her Birkin years after the bag was mentioned on Sex and the City.

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