It was the event that every self-respecting fashionista (or even Top Shop frequenter) would have sold the soles of their Jimmy Choos to attend. Yes that’s right ladies and certain gentlemen, the eagerly awaited premiere of Sex And The City: The Movie hit London on Monday night and it was fabulous.
The new flick finds the sartorially savvy serial shaggers Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda back in New York city and getting up to all sorts of naughty shenanigans and fashion-related misshaps.
In what was certainly the most oestrogen-fuelled movie event of the year, the stars were greeted by hordes of screaming fans in Leicester Square.
"This is a movie for all genders, gays, straights and everybody in-between,” said star Sarah Jessica Parker.
The movie has been a long time coming, with reports of off-screen catfights fuelling the tabloids, but according to Kim Cattrall who plays the sexually predatory Samantha, the reasons for taking their time to make the movie were rather more personal.
"It was a really hard time," said Cattrall, who has recently gone through a messy divorce and had to deal with the devastating news of her father’s dementia. "I needed to spend time with my real family and I'm really glad that I did because in the four years, you know, coming back, I think the film is where it should be."
Of course, the real controversy surrounded the movie’s choice of venue for its world premiere. Critics have vilified the film-makers for shunning New York in favour of good old Blighty.
"We are very New York-based, three of us live in New York and most of the crew is in New York. We shot in New York,” said Cattrall. "But I also think it's not just a show about New York any more. In the four years we were not making the show, it went all over the world.”
Because it's a series in which four females are the stars, Sex And The City has often been tarred with rumours of bitching and backstabbing – and Kristin Davis who plays Charlotte is tired of the gossip.
“It's a sexist thing really," she said. “(Magazines) don't talk about how The Sopranos all fought or whatever. We've got a woman running for president, we need to get with the times. Not all women are bitchy to each other."
The movie pretty much picks up from where the hugely popular TV series left off with Parker’s Carrie now a contributing editor to Vogue, Charlotte living out her dream on Park Avenue, Samantha co-habiting with her actor boyfriend in Los Angeles and Miranda stuck grappling with the demands of motherhood.
With a bunch of new and old faces joining the awesome foursome (including Chris Noth reprising his role as Mr. Big and Candice Bergen as Carrie's editor, alongside Dreamgirls star Jennifer Hudson as Carrie’s new assistant), it’s all back to familiar territory but, according to Cynthia Nixon who plays Miranda, on a much larger scale.
“It was bigger in every way,” she said. “We're a little older now and the issues we're dealing with are less silly and squabbly and more profound, I would say."
Sex And The City: The Movie will go on release on May 28. Keep it locked on to Empire Online for our review of the film.