While millions of viewers tuned in to "Sex and the City" on Sunday for the start of the HBO series' final season of coital exploits and female bonding, their ulterior motive was clear: eyeballing those shoes, that top and, oh, those earrings!

"When that show ends, someone new is going to have to take over," said Anita Finkelstein, regional editor for Women's Wear Daily. "Until Carrie [Sarah Jessica Parker] wears it, it isn't going to be anything."

Metro Atlanta fashionistas whose stores stock the "Sex" look are already using gossip and hunches to predict what trendy shoppers will be buying --- lower hemlines, sheer fabrics, layers of color and cropped pants. But everyone agrees: Carrie, Charlotte (Kristin Davis), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) again will define this season's "it" products.

"As soon as it's on the shelf, it's gone," said Jenn Ripley, owner of Luxe boutique on West Marietta Street. "You try calling up a store five minutes after the show airs and you're not going to get it."

After seeing the cast in pink on Sunday, local stores are stocking up in preparation for a summer of romance.

"Pink is such a girl color," said Rene Sanning, owner of Rene Rene, which sells "Sex and the City"-style clothes. "We're at a time in our lives that we don't care if it's a girl color. We want to look like girls."

After designer Patricia Field signed on to create "Sex and the City's" look during its first season, it evolved into more than just a half-hour of sexual adventures and girl talk. It became a fashion statement.

Suddenly, the world was dizzy over nameplate necklaces and Fendi bags. There were horseshoe charms, pinned-on flowers and black bras beneath white shirts. And then there were stilettos.

"We call them mancatchers," said Teresa Hebert, owner of T boutique in Duluth. "They're beautifully sexy."

Sanning said she foresees a return of mid-century glamour-girl looks on the series, but with that modern twist called independence.

"In this show, women are allowed to do things that were not proper before," she said. "With that comes the woman who says, 'If I look like that, then I can also have that freedom."

Indeed, the women on the show have the freedom to sleep with many men, eat pizza at 3 a.m. and tell all the dirty details over lunch. Or over the phone --- perhaps on the new cellphone Carrie is rumored to begin toting this season.

The show's designers reportedly sought out dozens of cellphone covers from product placement companies to find the perfect look for their leading lady's new gadget. A placement on a show such as "Sex and the City" can lead to national attention and demand for a product.

Beth Beasley, an Atlanta-based product placement specialist, said costumers from the show held on to about 20 cellphone covers she offered but turned away other products, such as gold jewelry. Gold, they said, is out.

Several products created by Atlanta-area residents or natives made the initial cut, including Spanx, the footless pantyhose, handbags by 2 am and jewelry by Body Bracelets.

"God willing, I am the craze creator," Beasley declared. "I'll tape every episode; I watch every Sunday night. If anybody has been placed, they call me squealing as soon as the show is over."

In fact, anything that makes an appearance on the show gains new recognition on the street, says Jeff Turback, a partner in the New York First Company, which includes a "Sex and the City" store on its Web site. The site (www.newyorkfirst.com) offers products that have been featured on the show, including Flirtini goblets, Miranda's diaper cake and Samantha's pearl thong.

A surprisingly popular item at the store: Charlotte's vibrator, "the Rabbit."

"Regular people can buy these things without taking out a mortgage on their house," Turback said. "People want to have something that nobody else has, and it has the seal of approval from 'the girls."

But many of the season's most coveted fashions may not be a designer name or the newest look. They may be from the bottom of a bargain bin, mixed with more modern wares.

By taking a thrift shop steal and adding a unique touch, the costumers behind "Sex and the City" can call it a one-of-a-kind. Just in time, said Ripley of Luxe, for clothing makers to copy and mass-market the design.

"Carrie's outfits are so out there that you have to mix it up," she said. "The public looks to the show for inspiration --- mixing textures, wearing what you like, being told it's OK to wear tweed with silk."

The perfect shoes, handbag, earrings and finishing touches are key to attaining "the look," Ripley added.

"Before, I don't know if anyone would wear 5-inch heels with cargo pants. Now you'll wear 4-inch Manolos with jeans to go grocery shopping.