FASHION POLICE: Feb 13, 2008

I think one of my favorite things about Cashmere Mafia that carried over from Sex and the City is the great array of different fashion choices you see every episode, on every character. So here are all the outfits I deemed noteworthy for the Feb 13 ep.

So far these are the characters as I see them, fashion-wise: Mia's fashion-crazy, Caitlin's edgy, Juliet's conservative and Zoe is...The Working Woman.

I know a big part of her character is her love for her husband and children, but this episode was all work, and come to think of it, we've always seen a lot more of Zoe's work woes than any of the other character's work business. We got some in the first few episodes with Mia, but no big problems, just small issues, mainly personal ones, that happened to be interfering with the smooth sailing of her work. As for Caitlin, the most we got, as far as I can remember, was that time she was forced to stay away from work until her zit cleared. And Juliet... I've basically forgotten that Juliet works. What does she do again? Hotels? Wasn't there something about an email or something?

Meh. Whatever. The point is, Zoe's fashion style, if nothing else, is that of a professional businesswoman. It's not overly fashionable, but it's not boring. She's not dressed for a night out or a day at the country club. She's dressed for work. Some examples:

This is Zoe at the coffee date with all four women. If you compare her outfit with those that the other women were wearing in the same scene, it's easy to see that Zoe is the least flashy of any of them. She's really just wearing a black fitted shirt. There's a chunky gold bangle on one hand, but other than that, no accessories (although I assume she's wearing her wedding ring).

Her hair is feathery and her makeup is light. While the other women are wearing outfits with makeup that the average working woman does not have time for, Zoe's outfit seems, well, possible. It's believable that a working mom could do that. I could do that. You could do that.

We might not look as good in the same outfit as Frances O'Connor does, but that's another issue.


OK, this picture's a little blurry. My bad. You can see the basics though. Long fitted red coat. Hot. Very work appropriate, but also very attractive. It looks great on her.

The burgundy dress underneath is also classic, simple, and professional, but not, and I repeat, not boring. The black belt cinched high on the waist adds a bit of flair to the outfit and the basic black bag matches perfectly. (Of course, what doesn't a basic black bag match?)

Zoe's hair, again, is natural and straight. I actually can't think of any instance when Zoe has been given really big or obviously "done" 'dos. I can think of some overstyled hair looks for the other characters (especially Mia-- wow, the looks they give that woman sometimes!), but Zoe has always had her hair kept pretty simple. Straight, or curled, or in a ponytail.

And you know what? That's great. Because that's how most of our hair looks most of the time anyway.

Mia seems to be the most fashion-forward, which makes sense in her industry. They give her wild outfits every week! Although this week was fairly toned down. No purple lipstick this time.

This was probably the "wildest" outfit, and it's actually pretty cute. As always, Mia's wearing huge earrings, which whoever does wardrobe for Cashmere Mafia must love, since all the characters always wear gigantic earrings. I know they're flashier on TV, but can't someone just wear simple studs one day?

And again with the puff sleeves for Mia. She's petite enough so it's cute, but her face is stern enough so it's not 8-year-old girl cute.

I hope that fur is faux, but otherwise, the outfit is pretty cute and actually believable, as in, I believe a working woman might wear that to work, in a very fashion-forward work environment.


The next outfit was my favorite, but I couldn't get a really good picture of it. Mia wears it in the coffee scene w/the other women and also in the meeting with Jack at the bar.

While it's true that Makeup should probably tone down the dark lipstick on such light-skinned actresses as Lucy Liu (Mia) and Miranda Otto (Juliet), this color looks all right, especially with this top.

I loved the jewel tone of this silky top. It looks luxurious and is fashionable but also classic. The earrings are really cute too and not overly ostentatious.

This is one of the few times we've seen Lucy Liu with her hair down, not overly styled or pomaded or curled. And you know what? It's cute! She looks pretty natural here, which is great, and a great change from what we've seen in previous episodes.

Mia wore some other outfits but those were the two that stuck out in my memory. Since we just went over Mia's outfits, I guess we should look at Caitlin's, as the two characters are apparently inseparable. (See XXXXX). While Mia's the fashion-forward one of the bunch (I'd say the most like Carrie), Caitlin has an eclectic style. She's edgy and willing to play with gender perceptions, i.e., willing to look like a butch biker chick, as we see here:

Yeah, I know. This isn't the best shot for Bonnie Somerville, but it does de-emphasize the incredible heights her hair achieved during that scene (although not as high as Juliet's).

The hair, plus the big silver hoops, plus the black vest-y thing with the off-the-shoulder sleeves, all screams "Look at me! I'm a lesbian!" to me.

Which is, you know, perfectly fine, especially given that Caitlin is sort of maybe a lesbian. Or bi. Or just really confused at the moment. We don't know, and she doesn't know, but it seems like her outfits have already decided.

I have to say, I don't really get Caitlin's outfits most of the time, but I'll accept that it's part of her offbeat character.

So, I get that teasing your hair really big in the front was really in fashion in 2006 and like, in the 80's. But it's two years later now and do we really have to have two different characters both with big bouffant hair styles in the same scene?

I'm a little surprised with Juliet's hair in this scene. It seems a little too big, too exuberant, too flashy for conservative ex-debutante Juliet. Maybe this is part of the new post-divorce her, and maybe the Makeup/Hair people haven't figured out a style for Miranda Otto yet. I'm giving both the benefit of the doubt.

The color, though, works really well with her hair color. Her makeup is actually not overpowering her pale face this time! Yay! I think the makeup artists are getting better at working with these actresses every episode. I'm sure by the end of this season, or by the beginning of (hopefully) Season 2, the characters' styles will get really defined.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. The earrings were pretty cute. Ginormous, as always, but a refreshing color and interesting shape.

Another outfit I liked of Juliet's was the outfit she wore the day she got served and confronted Davis. Here are two shots, one of her in the office with the coat open, and one of her walking the streets of New York, where you can see the coat closed.

The outfit doesn't seem too intersting in the picture on the left. It's just a black coat over a white shirt. And something brown.

But the coat is uber-cute, in my opinion, as you can see in the pic on the right. I mean, c'mon, are those ruffles at the bottom of the coat? And at the bottom of the sleeves?

I also like that her hair is hanging naturally (well as naturally as the a team of hairstylists can make it). Everything seems to work in this outfit, and nothing sticks out.

While I only showcased a few of the outfits in this post, you and I know that there were many, many more outfits--some wonderful, some terrible-- in this episode, as there are in every episode.

If you're like me, and a former SATC fan, then you probably adore the huge wealth of fashion we're given every week to look at, model, and critique. So, Fashion Police will update after every episode (and back-update for past episodes) to comment specifically about the outfits: clothing, accessories, hair, makeup, the whole shebang!

Leave comments and join the fun!