Also, doesn't Carrie have a few 'influential' friends? She always went out all the time, and knew a lot of designers/other socialites, who probably gave her a few things now & then. I remember when she went to a store with her boyfriend, Berger, to buy him this red dress shirt, and knew the designer personally (can't for the life of me remember the name, though...). And she was given a Valentino dress by another boyfriend who knew the designer.