“And Just Like That,” HBO’s revival of “Sex and the City” has arrived, and the inimitable Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, wears an Israeli-designed, hand-embroidered masquet kaftan for the opening episode.
“It’s a huge honor and my personal dream is coming true,” said Sharon Tal, the lead designer at Muskete, who enacted a reboot of her own eight years ago, bringing back the historic fashion house and its intricate ethnic embroidery. . “I grew up on ‘Sex and the City’ and the style brought to each episode by Carrie Bradshaw.”
The two women met in Israel in 2019 when Parker visited the Musket store and studio, then in Jaffa.
Designer Tal relaunched Muskit in 2014 with the help of Ruth Dayan – widow of famed General Moshe Dayan – who worked in the early 1950s to provide work opportunities for new immigrants to Israel from Yemen, Morocco and other eastern lands. Label was created for.
Dayan had discovered the embroidery skills of women, and with the help of Hungarian-born designer Fini Leitsdorf, took on the styles of the time and embellished cloaks and tunics, kaftans and dresses with traditional embroidery.
Parker became a fan of the famed designer label, wearing the legendary Maskit Desert cloak during a visit to Dublin, and wearing a purple M by Maskit dress for the premiere of the “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” Broadway show in Times Square.
Masquet designer Sharon Tal working on the hand-embroidered intricate peacock design on the Sarah Jessica Parker dress worn in the first episode of the “Sex in the City” reboot on HBO in December 2021 (Courtesy Masquet PR)
When Parker began working on the reboot “And Just Like That, A New Chapter of Sex in the City,” Tal said, the actress texted him saying she wanted to make a dress for the opening episode.
Due to the travel restrictions demanded by COVID-19, he did so on Zoom, including collaborative meetings and fittings.
The kaftan with a turquoise peacock, which has feathered spread in front, was designed by Tal in collaboration with Parker and the show’s lead stylist, Molly Rogers, over the course of several months.
“I’m very proud of my results,” Tal said.
Details of the masquet-designed, peacock-embroidered kaftan worn by Sarah Jessica Parker for the opening episode of the “Sex in the City” reboot that premiered on December 9, 2021 (Courtesy Maskit PR)
Now the designer is creating a ready-to-wear top inspired by the kaftan and elaborate embroidery to be sold at the recently opened Masquet pop-up shop in Manhattan’s SoHo at 74 Wooster Street.
The shop includes masquerade couture and bridal wear, as well as off-the-rack pieces.
The 170-square-metre pop-up was inaugurated on December 8 at the New York Museum of Modern Art with the premiere of the HBO show, which was attended by Tal.
A sketch of the Maskit-designed, peacock-embroidered kaftan worn by Sarah Jessica Parker for the opening episode of the “Sex in the City” reboot that premiered on December 9, 2021 (Courtesy Maskit PR)
The timing couldn’t be more right for the clothing designer.
When Maskit first became one of Israel’s first popular exports in the 1950s, it was featured in Vogue and sold with Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, and a store in Saks Fifth Avenue in New York and 10 in Israel.
Now the brand is back in New York City, and is being worn by Parker in his role as Bradshaw, the ultimate Manhattanite.
“This is another step in our expansion,” Tal said. “I really believe this is just the beginning.”