But, whatever its faults, this is a movie that doesn't stint on the wow factor: just when you think there's a look that can't be topped, longtime Sex costumer Patricia Field adds another style wallop. It's unrelenting glamour in virtually every frame.

'I thought the fashions this time were so beyond out there, really beyond reality,' says Monica Schweiger, a Los Angeles-based stylist who has worked with the likes of Katy Perry, Debra Messing, Alicia Silverstone and Lady Gaga. 'It's total eye candy for the fashion lover ... you know, riding a camel in the middle of the desert in heels is just a few steps beyond. I thought at least they'd change into some fabulous YSL wedges or something.'

The entire film is steeped in a sense of unreality. The girls - Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte - are on an all-expenses-paid trip to Abu Dhabi. Against a fabulously palatial backdrop, they trot out one divine frock/sexy stiletto/borderline absurd hat after another.

Field, for her part, used that notion of a 'magic vacation' to fuel the glossy look of the film.

'I didn't have to worry about reality so much, but could stay in the fantasy of a woman going on this fantastical vacation,' she says.

Field mined the girls' personalities and looks: Charlotte's wardrobe, with her dark hair, could be inspired by Cleopatra, Miranda could have an Out of Africa vibe, Carrie would push every possible fashion envelope while Samantha would just be, well, Samantha. The result: maxi dresses galore, chiffon harem pants, the kind of headgear you would only ever see on a fashion runway, and fabulous footwear. The wardrobe is, at its core, aspirational and profoundly coveted. Everyone wants to dress like these girls, even if they don't know it.

'You almost feel you can go to the movie, touch the screen, put it in a shopping bag and pick it up on your way out of the theatre,' says Sharon Haver, founder and editor-in-chief of FocusOnStyle.com, a New York-based site which combines retail and trendspotting.

In the film, Carrie - played by Sarah Jessica Parker - wears a handful of dresses from the Halston Heritage line, for which Parker happens to be the chief creative officer. The promos for the film were so saturated with those dresses - a white one in particular - that, says Haver, 'there may as well have been 400 Halston dresses in the movie'.

'People want those dresses now,' she says. 'There are women who want those clothes because they are aspirational, amazing, unobtainable, and they want to know they have a dress that was in the movie. They want the fantasy.'

Despite the poor reviews, women will still make an effort to see the film, say style experts. 'The wardrobe is completely its own element in the film,' says Schweiger. 'I think people will see it regardless of reviews - some with a curiosity to see what they are wearing, others just to see the characters they have grown to love over the years.'

Field has covered every fashion base, stocking the film with distinctive looks irrespective of the label and pedigree. There are plenty of vintage pieces, stylish basics from mass-level brand Zara and from emerging designers such as New York-based Philippe and David Blond. For those for whom the movie isn't enough, there is even a book: Sex and the City 2: The Stories. The Fashion. The Adventure. Even in the plethora of uber-glam looks, there are some standouts: a crumpled Yohji Yamamoto hat, a Chanel skirt over embellished jeans, an onslaught of Pucci prints, a jewel-encrusted cutout swimsuit in which Samantha lounges poolside.

'There was definitely a motif of long chiffon dresses for Carrie,' says Danny Wong, a fashion contributor for Luxuo.com. 'I love the gold glitter Louboutin pumps because they are reminiscent of the ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz but in a glitzier New York City rendition.

'Summer dresses, flowing gowns in shocking colours. The other memorable Carrie outfit is the purple full-skirted dress with a 'J'adore' tee. It takes a certain kind of gal to sport that in a crowded souk,' he says.

As with anything Sex and the City related, designers are desperate to have their pieces featured in the movie, upping the stakes to the extent that, says Haver, 'the fashion is a fifth character'.

That character is all about opulence and whimsy; in one scene, Miranda wears a mirror-adorned plunging V-neck dress.

'It was amazing and really unbelievable,' she says. 'She's a Brooklyn mum and lawyer, but when did Miranda turn into someone who would wear that?' Beyond that, Parker's white Halston - clean, sexy and modern - is very New York, but, as Schweiger points out, that image was so prevalent in the weeks before the opening of the film that it lost its impact a bit.

Still, spending two and a half hours with these style-savvy girls will revive any flagging fashionista, the insipid storyline and cringe-worthy clich?s notwithstanding.

'I thought the look of the film was bright and sparkly and so extravagant,' says Schweiger. 'It's like looking at the autumn issue of Italian Vogue - everything is lovely to look at, not a bit based in reality. It's a fantasy wardrobe in every possible sense. Carrie might look chic in a variety of harem pants, but, in all seriousness, I'm personally not going out for sheer harem pants anytime soon.'