And Just Like That season 2, episodes 1 and 2: a peek behind the show's interiors
On Thursday, the first two episodes of Max's And Just Like That… second season aired, picking up right where Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and the rest of the show's group of glamorous women of a certain age left off: grief sex, lots of couture and bi-coastal angst. AJLT's creator and show runner, Michael Patrick King, has promised a comparatively lighter season than the previous, one that is more reminiscent of AJLT's predecessor, Sex and the City. Whilst both series are mostly associated with their fabulous showings of well-styled couture, we at House & Garden couldn't help but wonder: what can AJLT's interiors tell us about our favourite friend group, and what can we learn from them?
Spoiler alert! This piece contains spoilers for the first and second episodes of season 2 of And Just Like That…
Our interiors takeaways from the second season premiere of And Just Like That…
Craig Blankenhorn/Max1/3Do clashing interiors mean trouble in paradise?
At the end of season 1, the usually practical Miranda Hobbes made the life-altering decision to follow her heart instead of her head and follow her new love interest, comedian Che Diaz (who uses they/them pronouns), to the West Coast, where Che is filming their sitcom. Before the move, Miranda had been living in a smartly decorated Brooklyn brownstone; however, it seems as if she has embraced her new, freer (and slightly unmoored) West Coast identity, opting to decorate her and Che's bedroom with a hodgepodge of beach-y, yet slightly clashing furnishings: patterned cushions, midcentury dresser and nightstand, a stark black wrought-iron bed frame, sage-coloured walls, a colourful tapestry and a Matisse cut-out knock off. Does the couple's penchant for discordant decoration give us insight into the realities of their relationship? Stay tuned.
Craig Blankenhorn/Max2/3The midcentury modern bridge from full-time mom to full-time gallerista
Way back in season four of Sex and the City, Charlotte York divorced the WASPy doctor Trey MacDougall and, with the help of her future husband, Harry Goldenblatt, successfully secured the ownership rights to the luxurious MacDougall family apartment on the Upper East Side's ritzy Park Avenue. Charlotte and Harry, along with their two children, Lily and Rock, still live in the spacious pad, which has undergone a major overhaul since Charlotte first moved in. What used to be a tartan-covered, oak panelled apartment has now become a sumptuous, airy space, almost entirely cream-coloured save for the giant black Steinway (which, as we learned in episode 2, might be gone for good soon, if Lily has her way). We'd like to think Charlotte's recent addition of more modern pieces to the traditional apartment – such as the midcentury lounge chair (similar to the boucle easy lounger from Six the Residence, £695) – foreshadows her hopeful re-entry into the art world (she used to run a successful art gallery for crying out loud!), finally giving Charlotte the storyline she deserves.
Craig Blankenhorn/Max3/3Forget Mr. Big: Carrie's biggest, most enduring relationship is the one she has with her closet
After a near-fatal couture catastrophe ahead of the “Met Ball” (a puzzling disguise for the Met Gala), Carrie Bradshaw makes the difficult but necessary decision to roll with the fashion punches and whip out her only-worn-once Vivienne Westwood wedding gown (circa Westwood's 2007 A/W collection) and matching avian headpiece. The box was stashed in the back of Carrie's enviable walk-in closet, which appears to be a tad disorganised and chock-a-block full of a myriad designer pieces (back in season 6 of SATC, Carrie told her friends that “I like my money where I can see it: hanging in my closet.”).
Carrie and her walk-in closet have been the unofficial sleeper couple of SATC and AJLT: the small closet is her “favourite” part of her beloved Upper East Side apartment. Carrie ‘cheated’ on the tiny walk-in when the late Mr. Big built her a gargantuan closet in the couple's former penthouse and yet another in their next splashy pad; however, it is heartening to see her back in her favourite place, sifting through her incredible fashion archive, making things work for herself once again like the fashionable, independent woman she always was (at least when Mr. Big wasn't in the picture).
