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The fashion gospel according to Candace is: "Clothes are an expression of who we are and where we are."

Sex and the City's scribe, the eternally young Ms. Bushnell, breezed through Toronto last Thursday for the ModWomen Lipstick Jungle Cocktail Luncheon, named after her most recent book that's now a television series and a newly released DVD.

The networking seminar meets girlie gabfest meets shoe showdown provided an opportunity to ask the former New York Observer columnist how chick lit's crossover to television and film has affected the way women approach their work wardrobes.

After all, her characters approximate Freudian fashion archetypes. Take Sex and the City's Samantha Jones, a public relations maven whose sexual appetite is stylistically expressed through bold-coloured belted power suits à la Thierry Mugler. Lawyer Miranda Hobbes is much more conservative, although in the movie, she takes risks with printed sheath dresses and chunky accessories. Interestingly, Charlotte York's prim and polished look is not unlike Michelle Obama's Camelotesque sartorial strategy. Conversely, Carrie Bradshaw's cosmopolitan hippie vibe is unsuited for conventional workplaces but is nonetheless inspiring.

After a decade of exposure to these characters, women have inevitably been influenced to varying degrees. At bare minimum, Sex and the City has been responsible for ratcheting up the stiletto quotient.

"I always say our goal with the fashion is that women should watch the show and they should wake up the next morning and want to get dressed for work," said Ms. Bushnell, who happened to be wearing a subtly printed Marc Jacobs long-sleeved tunic and sky-high polka dot Valentino heels.

Anyone who is suffering from Sex and the City fatigue can extract dress codes of conduct from such widely different shows as Lipstick Jungle and Mad Men.

"We wanted them to be somewhat realistic in the sense that you really can wear these things to the office," said Ms. Bushnell of the outfits in Lipstick Jungle. To that extent, film executive Wendy Healy sports superslim and impeccably tailored pantsuits that complement her long legs. Magazine editor Nico Reilly often shows off a lower neckline but balances it with a lower hemline (in sharp contrast to the Ally McBeal era of bandage-sized skirts). Blouses boasting interesting details (ruffles, sharp collars) play a recurring role. Victory Ford is the most eccentric, but, as a fashion designer, this befits her persona.

Mad Men, meanwhile, is only now airing in Canada after a critically lauded season south of the border. The sixties-era show depicts women less as power players than secretarial lifelines (the ad guys' lean and mean suits merit a whole other column). There's something about imagining what's under the prim sweater and calf-length circle skirt of newbie Peggy Olson that makes her undeniably sexy. New York Times fashion writer Ruth La Ferla referred to this aesthetic in a January, 2008, article as "the newly uptight."

And just to stretch the television-as-office fashion inspiration further, an argument can be made that the gals of CSI and their investigative ilk have perfected the art of in-the-field fashion: khakis and button downs never fail to flaunt the curves.

Peter Papapetrou, a Toronto stylist and fashion director for Hazelton Lanes, is a firm believer that professional women can stand to gain from stylish and successful television characters.

"I've gone into many workplaces and everyone dresses so boring," he said. Mr. Papapetrou recommends women step outside their comfort zone when it comes to everyday dress. This can be as easy as adding colour accents or opting for a more feminine blouse.

"[Women] are prone to say, 'men won't take me seriously,' and I say, 'well, I'm not telling you to put on a bustier and a short skirt and killer stilettos,' " Mr. Papapetrou said. "It's a big issue because they think they're in a man's world and they want to be respected and they still have the mentality that men will look at them a certain way if [they're] too overt."

Having just returned from New York where she was consulting with clients on Wall Street, Toronto-based personal shopper Sarah Collins observed fashion industry types can take the Sex and the City model too far.

"It's almost like the episodes and characters gave them licence to be extreme in their fashionista self-expression beyond the point of being flattering and lifestyle appropriate," she said.

But being sartorially safe won't cut it in today's world, Ms. Collins adds. "You're trying to brand and package yourself; I'm definitely not a proponent of blending in with the wallpaper," she said.

"A lot of these television shows and movies give women a sense of empowerment and allow them to strut their stuff in a more fashion-forward way. It's when [women] cross the line into overly provocative and highly sexualized attire that the intellectual message gets lost in the shuffle; people do make first impressions within two seconds of meeting you."

Back at the ModWomen luncheon where twentysomethings and ladies in their 60s sipped Lipstick Jungle cock-tails (pomegranate juice and Prosecco) prior to Ms. Bushnell's appearance, a general conclusion could be made that black will always be the new black and that fabulous footwear is the best way to stand out.

Of course, a good shade of lipstick is an added bonus. Ms. Bushnell dug into her au courant Balenciaga handbag to find out what brand and shade she was wearing (Lolishine Rouge from Shu Uemura).

"I'm surprisingly low maintenance," said the soon-to-be 50-year-old whose fifth novel, One Fifth Avenue, will be published this fall.

"I'm actually a ChapStick girl."