why miranda is the only SATC character who could pull off this custo barcelona top
once a symbol of Y2K cosmopolitan femininity, these eclectic shirts are now an ode to aesthetic nonconformity.
“I found a wedding guest dress off your secondhand sonar google doc just in time, and got so many compliments!” — Eliza, paid reader
In Season 2 of SATC, Miranda wears one of her more polarizing outfits—a multi-color long sleeve tee with clashing patterns and a fashion illustration of a stylish girl on the front. She styles it with a red skirt and little wicker shoulder bag. Next to Charlotte’s glossy blown-out hair and pink cami/skirt set, she sticks out like a funky red-crowned parrot. I love it.
This top was designed by Custo Barcelona, a brand that you’ll either love or hate. There is nothing “safe” or “versatile” about these clothes.
To understand the nonconformist moxie of Custo prints, let’s take a step into the Y2K time travel machine.
90s babies, do you remember playing dress-up games like Stardoll and MyScene?
During summer break, I would wake up at 10am and lose the entire afternoon to dressing my fashion dolls—up until the moment my mom’s minivan pulled into the driveway. Then I would frantically shut the computer down by pressing the power button with my big toe and pretend I was working on my supplemental math workbooks.
Presented as a “middle ground between the classic Barbie look and the edgier Bratz aesthetic,”1 MyScene dolls in particular embodied that quintessential 2000s vector illustration art style. Sunglasses perched atop long hair, hips swayed aggressively to the side, cropped jackets and bare midriffs—all rendered with a colorful 2D flatness against patterned backgrounds.
And even if you never played these dress-up games, I’m sure you still associate the Y2K era with fashion illustrations that looked like this:
Or perhaps these Escada perfume bottle boxes will jog your memory.
This Y2K art style expressed an fantasy of cosmopolitan, glamorous womanhood in the new millennium. The girls in these images always look like they are having fun—chasing the social thrills of urban freedom and globalized commercial culture (i.e. “Ibiza Hippie,” “Rockin’ Rio”).
And no fashion label better captures the spirit of the Y2K groovy girl than Custo Barcelona:
Founded in Spain in the 80s by the Dalmau brothers Custo and David, Custo Barcelona was inspired by their shared passion for graphic design and travels around the world.2 It wasn’t until 1997 that they were able to show at NYFW for the first time.
Americans ate it up. Specifically, costume designers in film and television would dress onscreen characters in free-spirited, funky Custo pieces:
