The iconic “Sex and the City” character Carrie Bradshaw was brought to life at The University of Alabama for a project done by students in the department of clothing, textiles and interior design. Students participating in the “Carrie Project” had to create six different and distinct looks for the fictitious Carrie, who was played by Casey Straughn, a junior majoring in fashion retail.

Students in a department of clothing, textiles and interior design class known as CTD 340: Portfolio Design were tasked with creating a storyline that removed the much-loved, and sometimes envied, Carrie from New York City and placed her as an undergraduate student at the University.

Some of the scenarios included sitting on the steps of Gorgas Library reading Vogue magazine, waiting for her date at DePalma’s and rushing down the steps of Reese Phifer on her way to her next class. Straughn said Marcy Koontz, professor of CTD 340, recruited her to be Carrie after a typical “give an interesting fact about yourself” exercise during the first day of class.

“After giving a few interesting facts about myself, I threw in that my doppelgänger is Sarah Jessica Parker, or more commonly known as Carrie Bradshaw,” Straughn said. “A few days later, Dr. Koontz confronted me about a possible project with her CTD 340 class, which quickly developed into the Carrie Project.”

Straughn said they wanted to capture a day in the life of Carrie at the University, which meant the shoots were focused on movement instead of still, modeling shots. She said the project turned out better than she could have imagined and was proud to be a part of it.

“There was such positive energy all day long, and everyone helped me get into character as Carrie, and I even fake-hailed a taxi for full effect,” Straughn said. “I never imagined the pictures would turn out as perfect as they did, but I am so unbelievably proud to have been part of a project as special as this one. I believe this project taught me how a real shoot works – fittings, location scouting, travel time, booking hair and makeup and a photographer and every other detail in between.”

Shannon Warren, a senior majoring in apparel design, said each of the students in the class had an opportunity to style Straughn and pick outfits from local boutiques that embodied Carrie’s look.

“I helped style Carrie for her study day,” Warren said. “I just came on set and made sure everything flowed correctly and made the vision come to life for a study date.”

Koontz said she wanted students to get real-life experience to expand their portfolios. She said the students’ main goal is to produce a professional portfolio.

“This project allowed them to engage in a professional editorial photo shoot,” Koontz said. “My hope was that when the project was over, the bar would be set very high for them, and we accomplished that.”