Victor Costa SATC2 dress

Victor Costa SATC2 dress, originally uploaded by retrogemkitty7.

Yes, I did it. After a year of searching eBay & Google, I've tracked down the Victor Costa dress that Charlotte wears in the second SATC movie, & I've managed to do it at a price that fits my recessionista budget.

I don't usually buy clothes I've seen in films or on celebrities. Most "it" items have little or no appeal to me & I think many celebs should have their stylists publicly flogged. There are some famous ladies whose closets I'd happily raid, including Debi Mazar, Lulu Guinness, Diane von Furstenberg, Dita von Teese, & Sarah Jessica Parker, but I don't want to be a carbon copy of anyone. I can't think of any present-day films whose wardrobe departments I'd like to ransack, unless we go back a few years to "The Devil Wears Prada." Most contemporary flicks simply do a brilliant job of illustrating why I dress retro.

This dress, however, is not just any movie dress. It's pouffy, it's strapless, & it's by Victor Costa, my go-to label for vintage special occasion frocks. When I saw Kristin Davis wearing this dress in an SATC2 promo pic, I gasped. I knew who it had been designed by & set out to find it.

Needless to say, once the film came out, eBay sellers & other vintage clothing dealers saw an opportunity to make big money on this dress. I saw several examples of it online & for a while, the going price was well over $200. I do a bit of eBay & Etsy selling myself, so I can't say I wouldn't do exactly what those other sellers did, but I also couldn't shell out that kind of change for a semi-formal summer dress. Even we don't get gussied up as often in the warmer months as we do in the winter. So, I kept searching.

Finally, about a month ago, this popped up on eBay & the seller apparently didn't know it's a "movie dress." I got it for $22 + a few bucks for alterations (it was too big in the bodice.) I wore it to the symphony last night & got tons of compliments, both from friends & complete strangers.

A very late-to-the-party note on SATC2: I enjoyed it. I went with DC-area girlfriends, did some shopping after, & treated myself to the most enormous falafel sandwich in history before driving home (yum!) The movie is incredibly silly, but a feast for the eyes. I do wish more of it had taken place in NY, but it's good fun. I never watched the TV show until it was in syndication - J & I watch almost no TV - but I love the episodes I've seen. Apparently there's an SATC prequel in the works, using younger actresses to play the girls earlier in their NY lives, & I am less than excited about the prospect. The four actresses who starred in the show & the first two films embodied their characters so beautifully that I can't imagine anyone else doing them justice. Maybe I'm just old & crotchety, or maybe the later "Star Wars" movies (I saw the first two in that series & stayed away from the third like the plague) have put me off prequels for good. I think I'll stick to catching the occasional episode of the show, perhaps seeing the films again if they pop up on TV when I'm not busy, & wearing this amazing dress whenever the right event comes along.