10 Tips on Embracing Your Inner Carrie Bradshaw
Film/TV

10 Tips on Embracing Your Inner Carrie Bradshaw

By Hilton Dresden

Meet Carrie Dragshaw — Instagram's most famous Carrie Bradshaw impersonator and, recently, a drag queen who came face-to-face with Sarah Jessica Parker herself. Appearing on Andy Cohen's Watch What Happens Live, SJP got to meet several drag performers in different looks from her career. Speaking about Dragshaw (real name: Dan Clay), who was dressed in Carrie's tutu look from the Sex And The City theme, Parker gushed "It's kind of staggering what he does!"

Clay told us of the interaction: "To hear the woman whom I have intensely admired for over a decade say kind things about my little internet project — well, I just couldn't wrap my head around it."

He put a major emphasis on just how kind Parker was during their brief meeting. "She went above and beyond, really making it one of the most wonderful nights of my life. She looks you in the eye and makes you feel like there's no one else in the world she'd rather be talking to. She exudes a warmth that fills a room — a warmth I will never forget. I knew that it would be an honor to meet an icon, but I had no way of predicting just how big of an imprint her extravagant kindness would leave on me."

Clay stumbled into Internet stardom by chance: "I dressed up as Carrie for Halloween, with precisely zero aspirations for internet acclaim. Somehow, someway, the picture went viral," he explains. "It seemed to make people smile, so I wondered: could I keep this random internet moment alive and spread a little positivity and love. So I bought more looks, and started spending as much time crafting the Carrie-style captions as I spent on the fashions."

We all could use a little more Carrie in our lives, and when it comes to embracing your inner Carrie, there's no one more qualified than Clay. Which is why we sat down with the queen to get her 10 tips for unleashing your true Carrie to her fullest extent. But first, we needed to know his answer to the age old question: are you a Carrie, or a Miranda, or a Charlotte, or a Samantha? Carrie, he confirmed. "I overanalyze almost everything, I spend way too much money on shoes, I use my oven for storage, I question myself when relationships fall flat, I love the glittery side of New York night life, and I hold my friends very close to my heart."

Here's her 10 tips:

1. Wonder more. Stay curious. Ask big questions (even if you don't know the answers). Find the universal lesson in personal pain. In a city as cynical as New York, was it still possible to believe in love at first sight? Do you believe in soul mates? Can you be friends with an ex? Are some women not meant to be tamed? You'll never know if you don't wonder first.

2. Wear what you want. You don't need a special occasion to wear a special outfit. Casual dinner date and you want to wear a couture flamenco skirt? Go for it. Quiet afternoon catch-up and you want to wear a vintage prom dress? Go for it. Dress to express yourself, even if not everyone approves.

3. Embrace the palliative power of a style evolution. "My relationship is at a standstill," Carrie said, "so instead I'm evolving my look." When trying to escape emotions, never underestimate the power of straightening your hair.

4. Don't simplify yourself to please someone else. You're complex. You're imperfect. You're messy. Your hair, metaphorically speaking, is curly. Sure, try to fix your flaws, but don't fake simplicity just to fit his expectations. And just when he thinks he's seen all your sides, surprise him with something new.

5. Don't dull your sparkle so his can seem brighter. Don't apologize for your success. Find a man who's inspired by it, not intimidated by it.

6. Get up after you fall. Life's a runway, and it's better to strut and fall than to never have strut at all. Especially if Margaret Cho is yelling at you.

7. Never stop believing in love. Even if you're abandoned in the middle of a foreign city by a self-obsessed artist, don't let cynicism stop you from believing in love, real love, ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can't-live-without-each-other love.

8. Define the life that works for you. If you're single, that's fabulous. If you're married, that's fabulous. If you're divorced, that's fabulous. Whatever life stage you're in, make it fabulous. And don't assume that society's expectations of a "fulfilled life" will work for you. Question everything, and write your own rules.

9. Love your friends most. No man should ever, ever take precedence over your true soul mates .

10. Love yourself first. The best advice Carrie herself ever gave: "The problem is not your thighs. The problem is your head." Find a way to love yourself, no matter what kind of package you came in. Because the storms won't hurt you if there's sunshine in your soul. The nightmares won't scare you if there are dreams in your heart. And you'll never be alone if you become the love you're looking for.
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Story by Andrew Nguyen / Photography by Diego Villagra Motta