The buzz about Sarah Jessica Parker’s new fashion venture is building.
When Footwear News got the scoop on the new collection last week, the actress opened up about a variety of topics from her first fashion influence (her mother) to her years running in heels, literally, on the set of “Sex & the City.”
“I was in heels sometimes 18 to 20 hours a day on set. I never took them off, but I wasn’t in pain,” Parker said.
The star’s line of shoes, bags and trench coats, part of a partnership with Manolo Blahnik U.S. CEO George Malkemus, will hit Nordstrom stores exclusively in January.
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Here, Parker reveals more about her forthcoming venture and fashion influences.
On the whole package:
“We thought [about the metropolitan New York woman]. A beautiful coat, bag and pair of shoes — they all kind of go together. It seemed tight. It didn’t seem like we were trying to sell a bunch of junk to people.”
On her personal footwear knowledge:
“I’ve spent so much time in shoes now. I really feel like I [have] an advantage. I was in heels sometimes 18 to 20 hours a day on set. I never took them off, but I wasn’t in pain. I had been a ballet dancer so I don’t know, maybe I prepped my feet with pointe shoes.”
On her earliest fashion influence:
“I grew up in a house where my mother had beautiful taste. She admired Rose Kennedy and how she raised her children, and was drawn to people who would open her eyes. … She would get The New Yorker and The New York Times and she would just read and read.
[My mother] had no financial means, but she did her best. She would go to church tag sales in wealthy neighborhoods and find all the beautiful navy-blue Vuitton suits that the families had grown out of and donated to the church, and all the great saddle shoes and pinafores she could get her hands on. She would make our own black watch plaid jumpers for the fall. … Polly Flinders had beautiful dresses for young girls. They were hand-smocked with wide sashes and big full skirts. They happened to be made in [my hometown] Cincinnati. My mother would get up and go to the factory and buy [the dress with flaws in them] for 99 cents. But there was really nothing wrong with them. We were raised seeing a lot of beauty and [understanding] what a well-made dress was.”
On her early memories of grosgrain, which will be a signature material in the footwear line:
“I grew up having to wear grosgrain hair ribbons every day. We had a [bureau] dedicated to them.”
On the powers of suede:
“I don’t like a shoe to be too shiny. Sometimes it loses its chicness. That’s why suede is so nice — it takes color so beautifully as opposed to calf.”
