When Sarah Jessica Parker says she loves something, you are inclined to believe her. It's all in her voice—girlish, tinkly, optimistic—the one that guided women through seven years of Sex and the City (and for ladies having a bad day in 2015, SATC reruns).
If a voice can be wide-eyed, it's Parker's. Especially when enthusing about her storied Manhattan. "I love the city. I love everything it has to offer. I think that my children are so lucky to be raised here. I love the subway, I love hailing a cab, I love traffic and people and all of the possibilities. I believe in all of that still."
Still. "Still" is key. Because as celebrated, popular, and—that overused word, iconic—as she is, being "SJP in the City" has its challenges. Parker has stubbornly and admirably refused to leave her West Village neighborhood but finds the attention more glaring than ever. "My husband [Matthew Broderick] and I are genuinely surprised that we feel more public now than we have ever felt," she says, sitting in the back of West Village local Sant Ambroeus, hair up, gray sweatshirt, blue jeans. She lives nearby with Broderick and their son, James Wilkie, 12, and twin daughters, Tabitha and Marion, six. "It's social media. Of course, when you work in TV or film, there is a familiarity, so you reconcile that. But the show has been off the air a long time now." She pauses. "You're not ever alone. You are not ever, ever, ever, ever alone."
Valentino dress, similar styles available at shopBAZAAR.com; SJP by Sarah Jessica Parker shoes, $365, nordstrom.com. Bracelet, Parker's own. Fashion Editor: Erin Walsh
Parker is highly conscious of not being a complainer, of politeness in general. "Don't let anyone say I am not polite," she says, laughing. "I am polite because most of the time people are polite to me." She is on Instagram, which initially interested her when she was preparing to launch her shoe line, SJP, two years ago. Now, Parker's feed is charmingly personal—laundry on the line, friends, puppies, and, naturally, shoes. And yet, the haters, they come. Sometimes she writes back: "I will say, 'I'm sorry, I'm really disappointed,' or 'Why do you follow me if you find me so objectionable?' I have used that word a lot." SJP doesn't do BS. "I don't want people to mistake my kindness for naïveté," she explains. "I am no idiot, is what I am saying." Having turned 50 in March, she says, "I think my directness came with getting older. Now I will say I won't wear something. But if it's for a character, I will still try on everything on the rack."
What has made Parker such a fashion darling is the consensus that she pushes the envelope. "I don't ever think, 'I'm going to push it, I'm going to be controversial, I'm going to be provocative,' " she says. "But I am independent." Take, for example, her look for this year's Met Gala, "China Through the Looking Glass." "I researched that for a really frickin' ass long time," she recalls. "I studied Chinese opera, ballet, theater, design, costume design. I studied tassels, poms-poms, silk …" While Parker won't push it, she will certainly bring it. "I think people forget there is a theme; it is a costume ball."
Speaking of themes, Parker became a meme—the most hilarious, the red "flames" on her headpiece frying Rihanna's "egg" dress. "My son was like, 'Mom, you're a meme.' I didn't know what a meme was!" She laughs. "I never got far enough from the headpiece to get that it would be seen as flames." Of Rihanna, she adds, "I would have an egg with her anytime."
Balenciaga dress, $5,350, 212-206-0872; Van Cleef & Arpels ring, $1,450, 877-VAN-CLEEF; SJP by Sarah Jessica Parker shoes, $355, similar styles available at Bloomingdale's NYC, Bracelet, her own.
Parker moves with the times, and she's light on her feet—literally. In its second year, SJP continues to grow. "I don't really buy shoes," she will remind you with a smile, but will extol the virtues of ordering her collection: "Tartt is like a Mary Jane, a generous heel, with a sparkly buckle. And I love this boot named Yasmin, after Simon Le Bon's wife. I always thought Yasmin was a great beauty." Parker's heels are now joined by a range of flats, which come with saucy names like Scintillate. "I'm playing the field," she says, "high and low."
It's because she can be both that Parker lives so boldly in our minds. Yes, she was Sex and the City, but Parker is of the city, and always will be. Does she see an archetypal New York woman now? "There are so many!" she exclaims. "They come from all different walks of life. But no one has really told the story of women from Staten Island, aside from Working Girl, obviously. I want to know about women who work in the city and go home to Staten Island." Staten Island, you know what to do.
Until then, SJP will continue to heart NY. "That's why I love the subway so much—I can see people, try to know them. I love travel too. I am always game to figure something out about somebody else." So while people like to stare at Sarah Jessica Parker, know that the next time you're on the subway, she might be the one looking at you.
Altuzarra dress, $5,295, Bergdorf Goodman, 888-774-2424.
Hair: Serge Normant for Serge Normant Hair Care; makeup: Genevieve for Chanel; manicure: Gina Eppolito for ginails.com; production: NathalieAkiya@krankyproductions.com; prop styling: Todd Wiggins for Mary Howard Studio.
