Did Sex and the City Invent the Naked Dress? Kristin Davis Weighs In

Kristin Davis recalled a moment from Sex and the City when Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) tries on the now-iconic “naked dress” for her group of friends before heading out for her first official date with Mr. Big (Chris Noth).

During a recent episode of her “Are You a Charlotte?” podcast, Davis, 59, recounted the scene during a discussion with Christine Taylor, who pointed out that Davis’ character, Charlotte, was the one who actually gave the slip its now-famous moniker.

“[You] nam[ed] it the naked dress,” Taylor, 53, said, to which Davis replied, “I know! It kind of is.”

Davis also added: “And then Miranda says, ‘It’s tits on toast,’ which is also kind of hysterical and pretty accurate.”

Lest you forget, episode 6 of season 1 opens with Carrie dressed in a beige slip mini — an itty-bitty dress by DKNY with transparent spaghetti straps and a dangerously low back.

The sex columnist is posing for a photo shoot for her new ad, which will later be plastered on the side of an M11 bus. Of the shoot, Carrie says: “I had misgivings, which were somewhat nullified when they told me I could keep the dress.”

Weeks later, Carrie wears the dress again, this time to her first-ever date with Mr. Big. Ever the supportive friends, Charlotte, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) are there for Carrie’s send-off. Naturally, they debate whether Carrie is going to sleep with Big in it.

That’s when Charlotte coined the term. “Let’s just say it, it’s the naked dress,” she says, before warning Carrie that she shouldn’t sleep with Big if she’s serious about dating him. (Even Miranda agrees.)

In the podcast, Davis gave props to a line delivered by Samantha: “Then Samantha says, and [this is] very, very smart, ‘You can still get dumped on your first date or your 10th date whenever you have sex,’” she recalled. “And this is a good point, Samantha.”

Though Carrie throws a fur coat on top of it, Mr. Big simply calls it an “interesting dress” when he sees her — and, spoiler alert, the two ultimately end up in bed together. Of Mr. Big’s reaction, Davis and Taylor both shared a similar thought when looking back on the scene today: “Ew, that’s, like, so smug!” Taylor said.

But back to the episode: It all goes downhill from there, and Carrie assumes Big is ashamed to be seen with her in public. She even pins it on the outfit: “I don’t blame myself, I blame the dress.”

However, the infamous dress found a life outside of the show. Parker, now 59, donned the same DKNY dress for the 1997 VH1 Vogue Fashion Awards in New York City, which took place at Madison Square Garden.

Adding her own touch to the look, she wore the itty-bitty slip and styled her hair in a classically ’90s updo. She grounded it with near-identical nude strappy sandals, like her character’s Manolo Blahnik shoes from the series.

The naked dress not only drives the episode’s entire plot, it’s essentially its own character. Even today, as Davis’ latest podcast episode proves, it is still one of the most iconic and talked-about garments on Sex and the City. It paved the way for other women to make similar sexy statements on the red carpet.

As Taylor said of Carrie’s look, “She [looked] like a million dollars.” From the pared-down silhouette to the lack of jewelry and the nude sandals, the barely-there dress was peak ’90s minimalism — and you can’t put a price on that.