SJP ON CLASSIC SHOW’S REBOOT Remadein
Sarah Jessica Parker teases fans with hint of new star to replace Samantha, how Carrie will cope with the social media age and keeping her first love of fashion alive during pandemic
sea foam-green tutu dress). We had no reason to put that dress on, we were just like, ‘Because it’s beautiful’. And because the audience will love it.”
Of course, back in the 90s, it was the power of TV. Now, fashion is more often powered by social media influencers. Sarah reckons it will be interesting to see how Carrie reacts to amateurs being paid a lot to comment on fashion without credentials.
Sarah said: “I could give a flip answer and said she would object but I think there’s a part of her that would love to see other people enjoy fashion as much as she does and appreciate it as much as she does.”
Before Sex and the City, Sarah had been an professional actress from the age of 11 and had appeared in films including Footloose, Ed Wood and The First Wives Club.
In the 17 years since Sex and the City finished, Sarah has become an entrepreneur. Her SJP Collection includes shoes, accessories, fragrances, books, wine, and a little black dress.
One of the lockdown memories from last year is seeing Sarah working in her own flagship SJP shoe shop in New York.
As well as helping customers try on shoes during lockdown, she’s also been delivering them.
While actors have often been caught doing odd jobs to make ends meet, Sarah, who is married to Matthew Broderick and has three kids, isn’t doing it because she hasn’t been able to work.
She said: “Not everybody can get to New York, I think three per cent of the people that follow us on social media are New Yorkers. That means everybody else is elsewhere. So how are we connecting with them?
“They still want to buy our shoes, which is a thrill, we feel very privileged by their patronage – but we have to find ways to meet them.
“So when I take a shoe Downtown or two or three and make drops on the way, they know I’m coming and they’re all very nice. We socially distance. We all have our masks on.
“It’s a highlight of my day. I love it. That’s why I love being on the floor because I meet people from all over the world. I learn about people’s lives, their children, their illnesses, their family losses – it’s a nice relationship. For years, being an actor, you don’t get to have those conversations and now I do and it’s really nice.” Sarah launched her first line of fragrances in
2005 and then began building her shoe brand.
Their are now nine boutiques around the world and during the pandemic last year she opened her flagship SJP Store in Manhattan, ironically on the site which was once a boutique for Manolo Blahnik – Carrie’s shoe of choice.
Her most successful post-SATC show, Divorce, ended in 2019 after three years and Plaza Suite, a play she was in with hubby Matthew, which was about to open in Broadway, had to close because of the pandemic.
The actress, who has son James, 18 and twin daughters Marion and Tabatha, 11, spent some of lockdown in the Hamptons but, having spent time working in her Manhattan store, she knows how hard it has been for retailers.
She added: “I think what it’s going to take to survive, is to have a connection, to get small again. It’s knowing what the customer wants.
“If that means being in the store on the days when the numbers have risen in New York and people are scared again, then I say, ‘I’m in the store, I will call, I will walk you through, we will have a virtual experience’.
“We love our customers, we don’t want to disappoint them. And I want to keep this business alive because I love it.”
Nobody would loan us anything. We couldn’t get a bag SARAH JESSICA PARKER ON EARLY SATC DAYS