Sarah Jessica Parker on Her ‘Sex and the City’ Souvenirs: ‘I Just Want The Clothes’
Shannon Adducci
Style Director
If fans like to imagine that Sarah Jessica Parker is one and the same with her “Sex and the City” character Carrie Bradshaw, it often has something to do with the costumes. Turns out, the actress never parted with the clothes after all.
“If it’s not borrowed, if it’s not rented, it’s just always come to be in my possession. I don’t need white M&M’s or white candles or flowers or Diet Cokes or anything — I just want the costumes, I just want the clothes,” Parker said of Bradshaw’s wardrobe while at a panel discussion for the unveiling of “And Just Like That… It’s Been 25 Years, A Sex and the City Experience” celebrating the milestone anniversary of the seminal HBO series that first premiered on June 6, 1998.
“And it’s not because I want the clothes — but I want the clothes,” continued Parker. “I want to keep them together, I want to keep them documented, I want to be able to, just for purely economic reasons, bring them back, populate that closet again, set dressing that closet for every episode. It’s the way we all have our closets, things don’t just disappear. It’s been sentimental, it’s been practical but for me the costume fitting is everything.”
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The actress was joined by “And Just Like That” costume designers Molly Rogers and Danny Santiago for a discussion moderated by Vogue.com editor Chioma Nnadi that delved into the costume fittings, including the early years when brands were less willing to work with the show.
“From the very beginning Pat [Field, the show’s lead costume designer] and Molly created a conversation,” said Parker. “I walked into at what point early on was a smaller fitting room, when nobody wanted to let us borrow, buy, steal, and I mean nobody was allowing us anything, so there were far fewer racks, but [Field and Rogers] were always interested in the conversation, they were always curious about the scene and what felt right, what would be surprising. And I think over the course of time I learned a huge amount from them… They always had their eyes on the world, trying to bring that to New York.”
“You are very unique,” Rogers told Parker onstage. “You are the only actress that someone can hand a bird to and you put it on your head, and then you hand another bird to, and you walk down the street with it!”
“I’m as excited about the hits as I am about the misses, it’s all been a process, for Carrie, for us, and I would try on anything for them. Because you never know” Parker continued, explaining that she rarely tells the show’s costume designers she won’t try something on during a fitting. (The trio also revealed that when a costume for the show is complete, they ring a vintage call bell.)
The actress also talked about the role that shoes — including Carrie Bradshaw’s treasured Manolo Blahnik heels — have played throughout the show.
“I wasn’t obsessed with shoes when I came to this. I love shoes and I have my own relationship to them, it’s mostly because I grew up one of eight kids so I was always getting a hand-me-down pair of shoes,” said Parker. “What Pat and Molly did early on was they took an idea that was mentioned and they grew it quietly. They kept putting a punctuation mark on whatever the story was that the writers were saying about Carrie’s fevered relationship with shoes.”
“In the beginning we did not have access to luxury brands. It was a lot of thrift stores, Century 21, Bloomingdales, flip flops, trying to find a way to make something individual. It was a lot of ingenuity,” said the actress. “It was only later that Manolo [Blahnik] became integrated into the show, but it wasn’t right away and we did not have the budget in the beginning, even in the second season. When Fendi let us borrow the Baguette [handbag], that was the gateway to other brands, kind of like our gateway drug.”
The “And Just Like That… It’s Been 25 Years, A Sex and the City Experience” exhibition runs through through June 11 in New York. Season 2 of “And Just Like That” will premiere on June 22 on Max.
