Sexy is one of those words that immediately evoke visual or mental images; a particular physical appearance perhaps, or is it power, influence or intellect?
The year is 1998. Imagine best friends – a trendy fashionista, a pretty but naive brunette, a savvy corporate redhead, and a striking (but over 40) blonde? Who is the sexiest?
It’s the woman who walks into the trendy restaurant or the über-luxury fashion boutique exuding confidence – the ultimate aphrodisiac. Her name? It is Samantha Jones from Sex and the City. Yes, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) has style and beaucoup des "Choos", Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) has smarts and Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) has a pedigree, but it is Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) who has the "X" factor. It was Samantha, the most self assured of the four friends, who owned her own business, moved to the Meatpacking District in New York City before it was fashionable and was known for her amorous sexual adventures and memorable quips.
In the television show, she had a series of memorable affairs, (including one with "Maria' played by Sonia Braga),one where she held her own against the billionaire hotel magnate Richard Wright, (James Remar), then finds the strength to walk away. Samantha — the cynic and femme fatale finds unexpected love in a man decades younger, a waiter Jerry ‘Smith’ Jerrod (Jason Lewis) who becomes her protégé, lover and a famous Hollywood actor. Samantha battles breast cancer with the support of Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte and Smith, as she fights for her life and redefines "sexy’ as she goes through chemotherapy in the series.
In the Sex and the City movie, released in 2008, Samantha is fully realised. Although she loves Smith, she "loves herself more” and breaks up with him. Our last view of Samantha is her triumphant toast to her 50th birthday and raising her glass to the next fifty. Samantha Jones embodies Clive Christian X for Women.
I asked Victoria Christian, (daughter of Clive Christian and head of Global Media and Events for the Company) about the ‘X Factor’. Victoria explained, “Clive Christian X for Women was created to capture that moment of electricity when you catch eyes with someone across a crowded room and then cannot stop looking back… The perfumes are unconventional in that the heart notes are the main focus and are some of the most powerful natural aphrodisiacs mankind has ever known. X for women oozes Egyptian Jasmine, echoing Cleopatra and her capture of Mark Antony's heart using the intoxicating essence as she sailed towards him – deep, sultry, sensual – and dotted with tempting fruits like pink peach, mandarin, rhubarb to keep the nose addicted and coming back time and again…”
Samantha Jones should have worn Clive Christian X for Women when she used her wiles to buy the coveted fire engine red Birkin at the Hermes Boutique.(BTW, in real life, Hermes would never put a 35 cm birkin in the window!!!) She would have walked away with two; one for herself as well as one for her celeb client, Lucy Lui.
(Editor's note: I will be wafting X in the theater on May 30, 2010 when Sex in the City 2 premeires ).
Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief