Design, Life, and Style: Sarah Jessica Parker's New Shoe Line

Today farfetch.com is guest posting on Design, Life, and Style about one of my favorite topics of conversation...SHOES! I have always been a huge Sex & The City fan. I've watched the full series mostly while it was on TBS and then Style. SJP is such a fashion icon so of course her shoes will be fab.

I hope you enjoy the article, TGIF!

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Sarah Jessica Parker Designs her own Shoe Line with Manolo Blahnik CEO

Guest post for Designlifeandstyle.com by Lucinda Bounsall

It’s a match made in shoe heaven; in fact, it’s such a perfect partnering that the only thing we’re surprised about is that it’s taken this long to happen.

Fifteen years ago this month, Sex and the City hit our screens and swiftly became the voice of a generation of women. Carrie Bradshaw became the poster girl for fabulous womens fashion - and single - fashionistas the world over, as well as not-so-fabulous girls growing up across the Pond who lived vicariously through Carrie and her pals, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda.

Carrie Bradshaw (or Sarah Jessica Parker as she probably prefers to be called in real life) has now decided to turn her hand to designing her own footwear collection, called SJP. She will be working in collaboration with George Malkemus, the CEO of Manolo Blahnik, whose shoe empire her character put firmly on the fashion map.

The collection, which is to be produced entirely in Europe and New York, will go on sale from early next year and be available exclusively to buy in the US retailer Nordstrom. Scott Meden, the executive vice-president of Nordstrom’s shoe division, told the Grazia Daily website: ‘We are thrilled to be partnering with Sarah Jessica Parker on the exclusive launch of SJP.

‘Based on her obvious personal connection to footwear, as a fashion icon in her own right and through her leading role in Sex and the City, it seems like a natural progression that she is now turning her hand to design.’

This certainly isn’t the first time that a celebrity has dabbled with designing their own footwear line. Celebrities such as Fergie (of Black Eyed Peas fame), Jessica Simpson, Halle Berry and even the tennis star Maria Sharapova have had a go. It seems that everyone who’s anyone is willing to put their (often tenuous) skills to the test to create the perfect pair of shoes.

However, none of them have the serious style credentials that Parker does. The actress explained to Vogue.com: ‘Because I got to play that role [of Carrie], I wore a lot of shoe and, by default, I learnt an enormous amount. It’s hard to – no pun intended – walk away from that.’ And we’re really glad that she hasn’t because we can’t wait to see what she has in store for us.

Carrie Bradshaw was, undoubtedly, one of the most sartorially exciting characters ever to have graced the small screen. But, after years of wearing some of the most lust-worthy heels in the world, Parker struggled to get used to wearing anything less than Louboutin.

During the filming of I don’t Know How She Does It, Parker told Net-a-Porter’s magazine, The Edit: ‘I got [lower-priced] shoes and the bottoms weren’t leather, they were plastic, so I slipped a couple times, twisted my ankle. I went to a foot doctor and he said, “Your foot does things it shouldn’t be able to do. That bone there…You’ve created that bone. It doesn’t belong there”.’

So what, exactly, can we expect from this fantastic footwear matrimony? Parker explains that she took inspiration from ‘great old-school labels such as Charles Jourdan and Maud Frizon’. So we’re thinking classic, feminine designs.

Pumps and flats will come in at approximately $200 to $300 and bags at around $700. The prices aren’t quite at Fergie’s level but then, you have to pay for quality.

And, if you needed any further evidence of Parker’s footwear prowess, we’ve taken a look back at some of Carrie Bradshaw’s best shoe moments. There was the time she was mugged for her Manolos; or the time she went to a friend’s party and was asked to take off her shoes only for them to be stolen. And who could forget the unfortunate incident in Paris involving dog poop and a pair of brand new courts?

There are so many references to footwear that the show should have been called Shoes and the City. We’ve pulled some of our favourite shoe quotes from the series:

1. ‘Men I may not know, but shoes? Shoes I know’

2. ‘I’ve spent $40,000 on shoes and now I have no place to live? I will literally be the old woman who lived in her shoes!’

3. ‘But I rationalised that my new shoes shouldn’t be punished just because I can’t budget.’

4. Oh my God! Do you know what these are? Manolo Blahnik Mary Janes! I thought these were an urban shoe myth!

5. ‘The fact is, sometimes it’s really hard to walk in a single woman's shoes. That’s why we need really special ones now and then to make the walk a little more fun.’

So there you have it. We truly can’t wait to see how this amazing collaboration comes to fruition. We’re hoping for a lot of colour and brilliant materials and some unusual combinations of both. We’re also not expecting to see heels any lower than six inches.

What are your favourite Sarah Jessica Parker fashion moments? Will you be reaching for the credit card when the line hits the shops?

Guest post written by Farfetch.

Here are a few of my favorite Manolo designs of the season: