Before Sex and the City, the cosmopolitan was just vodka, cranberry juice, Cointreau and lime juice. Afterwards it was a symbol of girlfriends, sex, flirting and freedom. But it wasn’t only the image of the pink cocktail that the show revolutionised.

From the time it first aired in 1998, the show – and to a lesser extent its descendant, And Just Like That – has shaped the way we dress, eat, drink, date, exercise and work. What it did for the cosmo it also did for everything from nameplate necklaces to vibrators, catapulting them to pop-culture phenomenon status.

“It was quite startling, the effect it had,” said Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, the author of Sex and the City and Us, which includes a chapter about SATC capitalism. “It even changed the way we brunch. Overnight, we all understood that you go to brunch with your girlfriends to talk explicitly about sex.”

So what are the items that the SATC universe supercharged?

Cosmopolitans

“This was not a mainstream drink before,” said Armstrong. “But I think it will forever be a staple on cocktail menus because of SATC. It was the perfect drink for the show. It’s pink, so it reads as feminine, and it looks great on screen.”

It might now be a drinks order that would raise a smirk with a well-seasoned bartender, but it still stands for more than the sum of its parts.

Peloton

When Big died of a heart attack after his 1,000th Peloton workout in the first episode of And Just Like That, it inextricably linked the brand to a moment of televisual tragedy. Peloton spokespeople were quick to point out that Big’s unhealthy lifestyle was to blame and not their bike. The company even put out a parody advert featuring Chris Noth, the actor who played Big, alive and healthy (which it removed after sexual assault allegations surfaced against him).

But the cultural harm was perhaps already done. “I’m unsure if it was that exact moment, but I really don’t see/hear people talking about them as much as they used to,” said Stephen Leng, who runs the Instagram fan account SamanthaJonesPR. “Perhaps we all moved on after the pandemic, perhaps it was the cultural impact of Mr Big’s death.”

Apple laptop

Carrie Bradshaw’s laptop was a character unto itself, the screen upon which various sentences of her columns were written, generally crescendoing up to the phrase “I couldn’t help but wonder”. Armstrong got hers “essentially because of Carrie,” she said. “I remember getting my first Mac laptop and taking it to a park in the West Village to write and very much cosplaying Carrie.” Bradshaw’s laptop now resides in the Smithsonian.

Nameplate necklaces

They are now so synonymous with Bradshaw that to many they are known simply as “Carrie necklaces”, but the costume designer Patricia Field says in her book that she first spotted them on young Hispanic and African-American customers who came to her shop. Since criticised for culturally appropriating the necklace, she said in a 2023 interview: “Yes, I appropriated the name necklace from the multitude of young, gorgeous girls who were my customers in my shop. The name necklace always caught my eye, but I have always given the credit to them.”

According to Leng, it is “one of the only fashion items that Carrie ever wore that was really accessible … They’re still sold all over the world”.

Fendi Baguette bag

Launched in 1997, a year before Bradshaw hit screens, this luxury handbag is now rarely mentioned without connection to the character. “It’s not a bag,” Bradshaw once corrected a thief trying to steal her from her. “It’s a Baguette.”

Searches on secondhand retail sites prove there’s still appetite for vintage Baguettes, with Sarah Jessica Parker regularly wearing the bag, out of character, over the years.

Cigarettes

In some quarters and for all the damage they do, cigarettes seem to be back in fashion, and Bradshaw might well be one of the original smoking influencers, referenced along with James Dean or Audrey Hepburn. Often seen with a cigarette in hand – while writing, drinking or sitting on her stoop, Bradshaw’s smoking was a major plot point in early seasons, and the series won a 2001 award for accurate depiction of a nicotine addiction.

Manolos

Bradshaw’s feet were no stranger to Jimmy Choos and Christian Louboutins, but it was shoes by the Spanish-born, London-based designer Manolo Blahnik that really clicked, becoming a regular wardrobe choice and plot point. People took note.

“Carrie’s complete obsession with them meant that I, a gay teenager growing up in rural Hampshire, knew that they were the shoe to covet,” said Leng. “Even now, I can spot a real one from a mile off.”

There was the episode where Bradshaw took umbrage at having to take them off for a party, and another where she got mugged for some. Most famous perhaps is that she was proposed to via a pair of blue satin and brooch bejewelled Hangisi Manolo Blahnik pumps. The shoe went on to become one of the designer’s best-selling designs.

The Rabbit

The show is credited with bringing vibrators out of the shadows, ushering in a new era of sexual consumerism. The Rabbit first featured in an episode in 1998. The day after, people who worked at sex-toy shops reported queues around the block.

SATC “had an absolutely insane effect on Rabbit vibrator sales,” said Armstrong. “This named the model and also made it feel more safe and normal to a lot of women, especially with the character of Charlotte being the one who got addicted, given that she was the most conservative of the group.”

Post-it notes

“I’m sorry, I can’t. Don’t hate me.” These are the words that will run through the head of SATC fans whenever they see a Post-it. Written by Bradshaw’s brief love interest Jack Berger, the actor Ron Livingston reportedly suffered the consequences of his avoidant breakup style in real life after the episode aired, having to hide from angry fans.

Others have since noted that what in 2003 felt like an off-key way to end things feels “borderline romantic” in the 2020s era of ghosting. You can buy replicas on Etsy.

Vivienne Westwood wedding dress

Despite being jilted not quite at the altar wearing a Vivienne Westwood design in 2008, Bradshaw made the late British designer the go-to for anti-brides of a certain age.

“The fact that Charli XCX wore a Viv dress for her extremely East London wedding earlier this summer shows the lasting impact that Carrie – running out of her wedding before whacking Big on the head with her bouquet – has had on the zeitgeist,” Leng said. “It’s possible Carrie’s gown did as much for the high-end wedding dress industry as Vera Wang achieved in her whole career.”