As a professional image consultant, I know what I like. Last night I saw the movie Sex in the City II. Have you seen it? If you’re not into fashion, flirting, and girl fun, there’s no reason to see it. I actually felt sorry for the one guy who was in the theatre. No kidding, just one. Anyway, it’s all about the clothes, scenery, interior design, and narcissism. Everything is over the top, exaggerated, and all characters are caricatures.

The costume designers hit some fabulous marks, but also some real hum dingers. For example, in the beginning of the film Carrie is the “best man” at her gay friend’s wedding. She wears a traditional tuxedo with a black crown head piece that makes her look like some black queen from the depths of Hades.

The hair extentions used in the film must have taken up an entire room; sometimes Carrie’s hair was thicker than the forests in Borneo. Other times her locks were tamed by a simple wave and hung long. Nothing was realistic, it was all meant to be a fashion show disguised as a story.

All four friends, Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda, wear four inch platform heals, even when riding camels. No one would actually wear a white vintage Valentino skirt to make a kitchen full of cupcakes, like Charlotte did. Nor would any guy wear a dark blue suit just to go walking around for the day, thinking, the way Big did. But I suppose everyone in certain cities has spray tans, like these folks do in this big city fairy tale frolic.

Samantha is all about sex appeal. Huge earrings are her signature accessory. I mean they are the size of door knockers. And her necklaces must weigh a ton.

Miranda’s style is artsy and her signature color is green to compliment her brick red hair.

Charlotte’s archetype is Miss America. She’s sweet, to a fault, conventional, formal, and traditional.

But it’s Carrie who gets to wear the coolest costumes, in my book. I love how the costume designers juxtaposed fancy and casual together in one outfit, and she came out looking original, fresh, exciting, and inspirational.

Three out of four of the ladies wear some sort of head adornment in almost every scene. Hats, scarves, headbands, turbans, even a tiara, no kidding. The bigger the better, more, more, more.

One of my favorite dresses was worn by Carrie when she has a dinner date with an old boyfriend. It’s a strapless number, revealing the top 1/3 of her bust, flowy and clingy, with a slit up one leg to reveal the entire leg, all the way up. Then she’s shocked and regretful when the old beau kisses her! Typical for this story line.

But I loved how the designers had Carrie break stereotypical fashion rules. Like wearing black bra and panties under a white gauze dress, and mixing different styles within outfits. She’s definately a trendsetter!

If you’re into fashion trends and starlet statements, this is the movie to see. But don’t expect anything to be realistic or certainly not respectful nor intellectual. The girls do use cleaver turns of phrase. Too bad the story line wasn’t as well-written as the one-liners. But us visual types love that eye candy. By the time to get home, you’ll be ready for your fashion makeover.