Sarah Jessica Parker Approves of Instagram’s Carrie Dragshaw

"Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. Maybe they just need to run free until they find someone just as wild to run with them." I have wanted to be Carrie Bradshaw for Halloween ever since college, when I had HBO in my frat room and girls would come over and watch Sex and the City on Sundays and I would pretend that I hated it because I didn't want to give myself away. Well, the secret's out, and this is the happiest day of my life. @sarahjessicaparker sending you more love than you could even imagine ❤️ #carriedragshaw

A post shared by Dan Clay (@dan_clay) on Oct 29, 2016 at 1:36pm PDT

Even though the last season of Sex and the City wrapped in 2004 — and the second movie sequel dropped in 2010 — Dan Clay can’t shake his Carrie fever. The Instagram phenom, 32, won Halloween by dressing as Carrie Bradshaw (in her opening sequence tutu dress, to be exact) — something that he’d longed to do for ages.

“I have wanted to be Carrie Bradshaw for Halloween ever since college, when I had HBO in my frat room, and girls would come over and watch Sex and the City on Sundays, and I would pretend that I hated it because I didn't want to give myself away,” the strategy and innovation consultant captioned an October 29 Instagram. “Well, the secret's out, and this is the happiest day of my life.”

In old westerns, the cowboy always saves the damsel in distress. But what if the cowboy is the reason she’s distressed in the first place? Who will save the damsel when her hero is her downfall? As I was face-to-face with yet another failure on the wild frontier of love, I couldn’t help but wonder: Maybe this was the story of the damsel who learned to save herself. After all, this is not the Old West—this is New York. And there’s plenty of giddy up left in my honky tonk. Maybe some girls aren’t meant to ride into the sunset. Maybe they're meant to grab their other damsels and dance under the moonlight. #CarrieDragshaw

A post shared by Dan Clay (@dan_clay) on Nov 21, 2016 at 5:01am PST

Soon after posting that inaugural Instagram, Clay gained the attention of a major Sex and the City fan page … as well as Sarah Jessica Parker herself. “Ooh my LORD! Words cannot convey. A triumph,” Parker, 51, commented.

In a city as big as New York, we have more than one of everything. Two baseball teams. Two ballet companies. And three newspapers–each with different readers. Journal readers go to conferences, Times readers go to benefits, and Post readers go to bed with you. And they all wanted to go to Augustine. At the corner of "See" and "Be Seen," Augustine was the Manhattan restaurant of the moment, and since Samantha was running PR for their soft opening we had a hard-to-get table for four. And we had something to celebrate: that magical moment in girl friends' lives when you're all single at the same time. But as I made my way to our overdressed and undersexed table, I couldn't help but wonder: were we like that hot reservation that everyone wanted but no one could get? Or were we that old has-been restaurant that everyone forgot? Extra! Extra! Four single women! Were we hot off the presses or yesterday's news? Whatever we were, we'd be it together. #carriedragshaw

A post shared by Dan Clay (@dan_clay) on Nov 13, 2016 at 6:03am PST

With that fuel, Clay continued to re-create some of Bradshaw’s most iconic looks from the show, including her Christian Dior newspaper dress (which made a cameo in the second Sex and the City movie), that polka-dot dress and Parisian-inspired beret (as worn before one of Bradshaw’s first big breakups with Mr. Big), as well as the season 3 cowboy hat, sarong and bandeau bra from an episode that took place in the Hamptons.

It can be hard out there for a single girl, but there are a few words that provide instant comfort: “Vogue September Issue,” “2-for-1 Cosmopolitans,” “Manolo Blahnik Sample Sale,” and “Perfect First Date Follow-Up.” PFDFU. It's flirty and funny. Easy, breezy, and cool. He's clearly into it and you're like a pair of purple control top pantyhose: fun and holding it all together. It takes you right back to that perfect first date, when the conversation flowed effortlessly, the spark lit instantly, and the first kiss felt like fate. As you flirt on the phone, you float on a cloud that seems to sparkle from the inside, and for a moment you forget your baggage, you forget your past, you forget how many times you’ve felt this feeling before but it failed to last…and you smile. I couldn't help but wonder: Maybe love is like a mobile phone. When you have a good connection, you’ve just got to keep talking and hope for the best. #CarrieDragshaw

A post shared by Dan Clay (@dan_clay) on Dec 19, 2016 at 4:59am PST

“Thank god for Amazon, eBay and vintage shops,” Clay told Yahoo! Style. “I have a bunch of favorite outfit pictures on my phone, so I’m just always casually in the background on the hunt.”

If you need me I'll be dead. A few questions: Do I ever take this tutu off? Is this my career now? Is my past like an anchor holding me back and I need to let go of who I was to become who I will be? @sarahjessicaparker you could teach a Learning Annex seminar on how to bring kindness and love to the world ❤️

A post shared by Dan Clay (@dan_clay) on Oct 31, 2016 at 5:36am PDT

But the search is so worth it. “Instagram drag was never really part of the plan,” he revealed. “But it’s making people smile, and the world isn’t all smiles right now, so I’ll keep it up.”