It’s hard to think of a TV show that’s had more of a fashion impact than Sex and the City, but in its successor – the HBO reboot And Just Like That – Carrie Bradshaw isn’t serving quite as hard as she once did. This makes sense, of course; she’s a wealthy widow now, steeped in quiet luxury and perhaps less inclined to walk down the street in a Dior newspaper-print minidress than she was when she was young, fun, single and in a ton of debt. Still, there’s a fashion power vacuum on the show, one that’s been filled by a surprising source: Rock (Alexa Swinton), Charlotte’s younger child.
When we first met Rock in season one, much of their storyline was geared around them cutting their hair, beginning to use they/them pronouns, and ultimately coming out as nonbinary to their family and friends; the show’s portrayal of Rock’s gender identity definitely left room for improvement, but three episodes into the show’s second season, we’re getting to see glimpses of Rock in their natural state: sassy, funny, occasionally at odds with their big sister, Lily, and – crucially – impeccably dressed.
Rock’s looks on And Just Like That aren’t high drama or necessarily geared towards grabbing the audience’s eye, but the subtle evolution of their individual style (think bucket hats, chain necklaces, oversized flannel and men’s shirts in fun prints) has floored me throughout the season because it’s (1) exactly how I want to be dressing as an almost 30-year-old learning to divest from some of my internalised norms around presentation and femininity and (2) rad as hell, especially for a franchise that’s more commonly known for defining femme style to a T.
“Rock has been in a transition from last season to now in terms of how they’re feeling about themselves and how they feel about their style,” And Just Like That’s costume designer Danny Santiago told me on Thursday, explaining: “There’s a little bit of street style going on there; we use a lot of sportswear, and their clothes don’t necessarily have a gender. We do everything from oversized track pants to Carhartt-type carpenter’s pants to oversized T-shirts to mixing patterns, and we have Rock wearing this little gold serpentine necklace that’s a little personal touch along with the black crystal stud earrings.”
As it turns out, I’m not the only millennial viewer who’s been struck by Rock’s oh-so-Gen Z style this season. Lily Marotta – an actor, comedian and podcast host who recently wrote a Strategist guide to shorts shopping for “trans men and GNC badboyz” – has also been keeping track of their looks, saying: “I like that Rock is going more in the streetwear direction, even if it looks kind of like it’s from Urban Outfitters, rather than the anime-Tumblr nonbinary style of having a half-shaved head and one pink streak.” Marotta is a fan of Rock’s signature necklace, although they note that they’d rather see them in a thicker, Italian-style Figaro chain than their more delicate serpentine (which, we agree, could have been a well-meaning gift from Charlotte that didn’t skew quite as masc leaning as Rock’s style is starting to).
The sartorial fun that Rock seems to be having on And Just Like That is a welcome departure from the grim and all-too-real attacks on trans and gender-nonconforming children that are raging across the US right now, and while we’ve definitely seen Charlotte and her husband, Harry, struggle to accept their child’s evolving gender identity over the course of the show, it’s refreshing to re-meet Rock in the context of their brand-new nonbinary drip and see that they’re really just like any other kid (only – let’s be honest – better dressed).