Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/322791
YOU ARE SO INSPIRED BY COLORS … SJP: Yea, I love the colors Charles James used. They are not typically beautiful colors. They're very flat. There is like a raisin color, there's an ocher color, there's a blue, which obviously is more palatable … I love that. And then, the combination of fabrics and colors that must have seemed so modern at the time. FOR YOU, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A WOMAN, MOTHER AND WIFE? SJP: I think it means compassion. If I think about being a mother, a wife and a friend, it is what I most want to convey. It's what I must hope to receive. The other thing I think about is complexity. Doing a lot, taking care of a lot and feeling responsible for a lot. WILL YOU SIGN MY SJP BY SARAH JESSICA PARKER NAVY BEEKMAN GROSGRAIN CLUTCH? SJP: Wait till you see fall, if you are a navy person. You're going to freak out for fall. Wait, what is that? [She points at my attire.] MPW: Chanel. Completely borrowed. SJP: It's beautiful. It's just gorgeous. It's head-to-toe gorgeous. Yours? SJP: Saint Laurent … borrowed as well. And, the stirrup leggings? SJP: American Apparel. I'm obsessed. At this point, George enters the conversation. SJP: This is George Malkemus III. GM: You look so fantastic. MPW: Thank you so much. SJP (to moi): You're like a doll. Like a little doll. I could put you in my pocket. WHAT ARE YOUR TRAVEL ESSENTIALS? SJP: I always have something to read. Always, always. Even in the car from the hotel to Nordstrom. I always have lip balm, I always have candy, I always have something to eat, gum. What else to I always have? I always have my Blackberry. WHAT'S THE LIP BALM YOU ARE ALWAYS USING? SJP: Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Intensive Lip Repair. Old school. Oh, and I always have fragrance. Always, always. WHAT FRAGRANCE? SJP: Usually something I'm working on. WARDROBE STAPLE. SJP: That's really hard. Depends on the time of year. This winter has been really rough, so jeans and lots of long underwear. Lots of three-quarter sleeve shirts for me. Always. And, lots of gray; I don't think of it as dreary. MUST-HAVE BAG. SJP: For me, the [SJP by Sarah Jessica Parker] New Yorker. I'm in love with it. I have it in black, and I'm waiting for the nude to arrive. I'm crazy about it. It came out so well. It's just so soft and so slouchy and holds so much. FAVORITE FLOWER, AND COLOR. SJP: Gardenia, peacock blue. ARTIST. SJP: (Obvious angst) Right now, probably Gauguin, because I just saw this unbelievable exhibit at MoMA that won't travel because it is so comprehensive and so crazy. It has been borrowed and cobbled together in the most extraordinary way. So, right now Gauguin. MUSEUM. SJP: I love MoMA a lot. When I travel, I try to go and visit other modern museums. I love the Tate Modern in London. But, I go to MoMA every year on my birthday. FAVORITE RESTAURANT, BAND AND GO-TO GADGET. SJP: Gradisca [Italian restaurant in New York's West Village]. Band, Parliament. Gadget Blackberry. PERSONAL TREASURE. SJP: Probably my home. SOMETHING THAT WE DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU? SJP: I like that you don't know everything. I try to maintain a balance between being open, candid and sharing, and also still maintaining something that those inside our homes know and share and hate and are annoyed by. I CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO EXPLAIN WHAT AN ENORMOUS TREAT THIS HAS BEEN. I WISH ALL THE CONTINUED BEST TO YOU AND YOURS. SJP: Thank you, and likewise. And, I suspect our paths will cross again. I hope they do. A girl can dream… MPW: I am so disappointed I left my Girls Just Wanna Have Fun tape at home. I needed you to sign it. SJP: Oh, next time. Or send it to me, and I'll sign it. LASTING IMPRESSION OF DALLAS. SJP: The trip was so short, but I do have one impression … it was so sweet and charming. I would say 98 percent of the people who came to say hello, and for whom I signed shoes, said to me, "How are your children? How's your family." It's classic. It lived up to every wonderful cliché about Southern hospitality. I GUESS I SHOULD SKIP MY LAST QUESTION, THEN … HOW ARE MATTHEW AND THE KIDS? SJP: See, you can't help yourself. IS THIS YOUR FIRST TRIP TO TEXAS? SJP: No, I've been to Texas a bunch of times. I was here in the summer of 1976 or '77. I did a production of The Sound of Music that was part of the Dallas Summer Musicals. But I've never been here and had much time. It's a city that really deserves time. ARE SHOES SOMETHING YOU'VE WANTED TO DO FOR A LONG TIME? SJP: Yes, these are the shoes I hoped to make. I had been asked about shoe partnerships for about 10 years. I kept having a hard time saying yes. It occurred to me, with the encouragement of friends, that the reason was because it wasn't the partner I wanted. They told me to pick up the phone and call George [Malkemus, CEO of Manolo Blahnik]. I humbly called and said, "I know this is crazy and a long shot, but would you ever consider …" He said, "Be at my office tomorrow morning." And we met. So that's how it happened." TELL ME ABOUT THE SYMBOLISM IN THE COLLECTION. SJP: I'll try to go backwards. The grosgrain I'll describe as divine intervention. I was sitting on the floor in George's office. Our first samples had arrived from Italy. I was looking at the back of the shoe, and it looked kind of naked to me. I grew up required to wear ribbons in my hair everyday, as were all my sisters. We had a bureau dedicated to hair ribbons, dominated mostly by grosgrain; I had to iron them myself every morning. I said to George, "Do you think it's possible, affordable? Could it be done? Is it even feasible to consider that we might put grosgrain up the back?" It was just a nice little nod to my mother and to my childhood and my sisters. And, it's come to be this nice signature detail for our shoes … There are a lot of women who I've never met that are inspiring to me — great ballet dancers or artists. Some of the shoes are named for them. There are women in my life who are dear friends, some who are older who have led extraordinary lives and done amazing things and who have been really decent, honorable, great friends to other women, and so those shoes are named for them. There is a shoe named for my mom, the Bobbie. Then there are just names I have always maintained for daughters that I didn't have, so I finally got to use them. WHY GEORGE, AND WHY NORDSTROM? SJP: Well, George because I have known him for so long. I really — and I am not alone in this — think he is a remarkable businessman. He's done an amazing job with Manolo [Blahnik]. Really consistent and really loyal. He's just been smart about every decision. And quality and maintaining, the integrity with which he conducts his business … I have a lot of respect for him. It's a business I really admire. Nordstrom, because I have had experience with them in the past; I launched fragrances with them. I love the relationship they have with their customers. I love how important the customer is. I love that they started out as shoe merchants, so it's their business. There was so much that was really attractive to me, and I felt they just knew how to do this. YOU CO-HOSTED THE MET GALA … TELL ME ABOUT YOUR INTEREST IN CHARLES JAMES' WORK. SJP: I think it's the construction … the foundations - they're such beautiful pieces of architecture. I also think it's that draping — that crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy draping — and the colors. SOLE A conversation between MATES SARAH MEGAN "THERE IS A SHOE NAMED FOR MY MOM THE BOBBIE, AND THEN THERE ARE JUST NAMES I HAVE ALWAYS MAINTAINED FOR DAUGHTERS THAT I DIDN'T HAVE, SO I FINALLY GOT TO USE THEM." SJP by Sarah Jessica Parker at Nordstrom, nordstrom.com. P H O T O G R A P H Y S C O G I N M AY O JESSICA PARKER PRUITT WINDER C onfession: I have revered Sarah Jessica Parker for 20 years. I am almost 30, so you can see that she has impacted and molded two-thirds of my life. One example: When I was living in New York City, right out of college, I sat on the stoop of the Sex and the City townhouse, hoping for clarity — divine intervention, if you will. Should I end my internship and take an opportunity at Conde Nast? She answered. I took the job at Conde Nast, and it was the right move. On the occasion of Sarah Jessica Parker's visit to Dallas, I met my personal icon face-to-face for the first time. In the conversational soufflé: grosgrain, Gauguin, a touch of Charles James, wardrobe secrets and the long-awaited launch of her new shoe collection. Sarah Jessica Parker at Met Gala 2014, Oscar de la Renta dress Megan Pruitt Winder Sarah Jessica Parker SJP New Yorker leather hobo