These are some photos of a very low-key-looking Sarah Jessica Parker, out and about in NYC a few days ago. Yes, I said low-key. This is HER low-key. My version of low-key is sweatpants and slippers that double as outdoor shoes (for real). SJP’s version of low-key is printed skinny jeans, a loud, polka-dotted puffy jacket and what I’m assuming are $2000 boots and $500 sunglasses. Still, don’t call SJP a “fashion icon”. In a recent interview with People Mag, SJP admitted (?) that she never “identified” with Carrie Bradshaw’s label-consciousness.
Sex and the City‘s Carrie Bradshaw is considered a fashion icon to many women, but the woman who played her says she doesn’t identify.
“It’s not an identity that I … connect to. I’m grateful if anyone says anything kind, and if they say something less kind, I take that as a part of anyone talking about you at all,” Sarah Jessica Parker told PEOPLE on Wednesday night at the Barneys New York and Walt Disney Company ‘Electric Holiday’ launch. “It’s not how I think of myself and I think it’s probably the healthier approach.”
Don’t get her wrong — the actress still appreciates a good outfit. “I love beautiful things,” she said, “and I’m privileged to borrow a beautiful dress. I feel really lucky and I genuinely enjoy it. I feel like [fashion] has a proper place in my life.”
But let’s just say you won’t catch her in a tutu at the grocery store. “It’s just not a reality — not when you have three kids and you go to the market and there are hungry people at home. You have a limited time to do it. There’s just no time to let vanity enter into that,” she said.
While picking the right dress was a priority for Wednesday night’s event (Parker, who hosted, wore L’Wren Scott), the star said the main goal of the evening was helping superstorm Sandy victims. Select Barneys stores and Barneys.com are donating 25 percent of sales from the Electric Holiday product collection to the American Red Cross for relief efforts.
“Everybody’s in serious need and this is going to go on for a while,” Parker said. “I’ve been giving back in a way that I feel I can and should and it’s not going to end in the next week. There’s still going to be a lot of opportunity in the future to see how people are doing and what they need.”
Good on her for the Hurricane Sandy benefit and all of that – even though I have my issues with SJP, I have to admit that she does a lot of excellent work with New York charities and she has a long history of giving back to the community. As for the stuff about fashion… I’m of two minds. One side, I do believe her when she talks about what a “privilege” it is to borrow clothes, and I think she really does get a child-like glee from playing dress-up. On the other side, SJP LOVES fashion. She flat-out loves it. She loves creating big fashion moments and she loves working with designers and she loves clothes, and she has a long history with all of that too. So I don’t understand why she’s trying to suddenly rebrand herself as somehow too down-to-earth to enjoy fashion. What’s the deal?
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, WENN.
She identifies/connects more with a bale of hay and a saddle.
lol
that’s mean. but funny. but mean.
With the right photographer she can be pretty but she’s definitely not one of those women that can do many angles or lighting situations.
that’s cruel. i don’t understand why people always make fun of her.
and i highly doubt all the people who criticize her looks would be comfortable with others treating them that way
way mean. I don’t understand why people would say things like that. i feel sorry for her, b/c people say stuff like that and you know she prob looks sometimes at stuff online that is about her. not to mention, it’s just mean.
^ THIS!!!
+1000!
Agree. She looks pretty in these photos. I don’t get the horse comparisons.
Sooo wrong, lol.
She can’t really help her facial bone structure. She got a bad deal on that one.
I can completey see her on Dancing With the Stars!
Oh, no biggie! I’ve read way more nasty and catty things about Raccon McPantless, Chelsea Handler, Blohan, Cyrus, etc. SJP is so thin, yet so muscle toned, she has the Madonna, Angie Jo syndrome of thinorexia, with thin faces, and creepy veiny hands and hooves. Its not a good thing, it ages you much more quickly.
The reason she’s saying that, is because she is trying to get away from the carefree, opulent living of early 2000s NYC, on SATC. Now she’s trying to be austere, and down with the cause, the 99%ers, etc. Not very true to who she is, but hey,she’s been living untruthfully with Broderick, for a long time now. Just how it goes, I guess.
I don’t get her style. Strange combinations of items.
I guess she’s trying to not seem as superficial. & Brin your going straight to hell. Your comment had me loling. She does look like our equine friends
Its’ OK Sarah, we never thought you were one either. We just like to see what outrageous get-ups you throw together.
I dig the pants and boots here (though not together).
I wish she would go back to blonde and stop parting her hair in the middle. I think she has a unique beauty but there are certain styles that are very unflattering on her.
She’s only saying that because she doesn’t want to come off a superficial, clothes-obsessed fashion whore while hosting an event for people who lost everything in Hurricane Sandy… as she’s wearing a custom L’Wren Scott dress and matching Minnie Mouse ears.
She’s not going to get work, if she doesn’t distance herself from the excesses of the SATC film sequels.
Unlike the TV show, they were an orgy of conspicuous consumption. It completely descended into parody.
it’s weird that SJP is trying to downplay her fashion passion. May be she’s trying to appeal and or expand her market because she’s been typecast as the fashionista since SATC begun, a role she’s been happy to play along with until it stopped being lucrative. Her Halston Heritage designs didn’t sell, and since then she hasn’t been as vocal about her love of fashion. Even her red carpet clothing has been markedly pedestrian since then.
Duh.
(I really hate how the media tries to convince us that people are all “fashionista” just because they have access to designers and wear weird and quirky things. I think she rarely looks good.)
Interesting comment as usual @LAK. I also agree with @G about the sickening consumption in SATC films. So disappointing, loved the series for sharp funny writing. Also hated the road trips. Why? NYC was always the 5th co star and I missed it.
Also I like SJP but her extreme thinness in the face is not flattering as she ages.
I hated the films. I felt like they totally lost sight of what made the TV show work- female honesty.
The writers on the show were mostly women who apparently used their own and their friends’ dating stories as inspiration for the show.
The films were written exclusively by gay men.
Now we love the gays, but you can see the steroetype they brought to the screen vs the more realistic TV show.
That said, the wedding in SATC film 2 is pretty fabulous. If I can persuade him indoors to get married, we are recreating it!!!
Whenever I see an interview with SJP, I remain pleased with how informed and well-spoken she is.
Yes, I think she’s really likeable and has more depth than many celebs. No she’s not conventionally beautiful but I think her warmth and charisma make up for it. And her kids are all adorable.
So many times in SATC she was beautiful. She was effervescent in that series.
Style icon is so ridiculously used in Hollywood. Katie Holmes wasn’t married to Tom more than a hot minute and that’s how she was labeled. So an average actress marries wealth and starts throwing on some designer clothes and then saying she helped design this or that and she’s all of a sudden a style icon? Laughable. Then I love fashion, always been into fashion, and starts a line. If I hear one more actress say that.
I saw your comment after I typed mine. And yes it is funny how all these women are “icons” now That word is so throw away now. Thing is if you think about it none of the fashions most of them are wearing have stayed in the mind of anyone. I couldn’t recall one outfit from the supposes “icons” that I remember. But I could name a few actresses that get attention for everything they wear and they don’t even care one way or the other. Sometimes the greatest impact is when you are not trying.
I missed the SATC love. I watched some of the shows after it finished. SJP was very cute in the show. She looked her best at the beginning. Her face has changed so much, but I guess it is nice she is no messing with it. But she doesn’t look face wise as good as she use to.
I agree about the fashion obsession of the show. In fact I recall her saying that fashion and NYC were the “other women” in the show. And at least she admits she borrows the cloths. So the fact that she does that is OK to me. they are not her cloths so she is not buying them.
nothing else to add.
When she was on the cover of Vogue a few years back Anna Wintour went on and on in the editor’s note about how SJP had a vision for how the cover should be and it was totally at odds with their plan but they went with it. They liked it – Wintour thought she was brilliant with her ideas which were high fashion. It was clear that she had very distinct ideas about her own fashion. Nothing wrong with that but why is she pretending not, as you said. Perhaps she decided it was hurting her career in some way. (Bizarre outfit – the coat particularly – for the streets of NYC! She looks surprisingly comfortable tho’.)
I’m sure SJP is smart and creative, but we’re talking about a magazine cover. It doesn’t really take a genius to make a magazine cover. They are not discovering a new planet or something. Cringing, sorry.
sorry it wasn’t just the cover – it was a whole theme of her ‘look’ over 7 pages, something like that – how her look should be, styled, photographed, clothing, over 7 or so shots and looks. (I would still think a cover takes thought but just to clarify!! it was more than that.) Thanks. I should have added that.
a magazine cover can be inspired! Why do you think Vanity Fair goes to such lengths for their covers. It certainly makes them stand out from a pedestrain magazine like Cosmo. SJP’s vogue covers are always striking especially because she’s not a classic beauty, so you aren’t looking at them and thinking it’s SJP on Vogue as you would most Vogue cover stars.
sorry CARRIE FOREVER!!!!
Love her boots…What do you say? 2000$, well not in this life time them ;-(
“It’s just not a reality — not when you have three kids and you go to the market and there are hungry people at home. You have a limited time to do it. There’s just no time to let vanity enter into that”
Thank. You. I always watch “What Not To Wear” and they film people going to the store and what? I’m supposed to look like I’m going to the prom and I need milk and eggs to bake with at the last minute? No.
As for her outfit um…the jacket looks warm? (Trying to say something nice. Really really hard.)
Lol, yes. a couple years ago this one mom at school must have had a What Not To Wear moment because one day she started showing up in nice dark jeans and heels and fashionable coats. Plus new hair and full makeup. While most of us were typically in yoga pants or old jeans and fleece tops and makeup-free. It was like “who are you trying to impress here on the playground and in your house all day?”
I get the idea that you should treat your outward appearance with care but at the same time when you have small kids and you’re running to school and the playground there’s really no reason to be an uber fashionista.
This attitude I don’t understand. It takes as much effort to put on a nice pair of jeans as it does yoga pants. Why is it a matter of pride to be a slob at your kids’ school as opposed to being well turned out?? How do you know this lady was trying to impress you or someone at the school gates?? Unless she started dressing like Elle Mcpherson,the only lady you know dresses the way she does at the school gates to intimidate, then why can’t a person drop the yoga pants and just be well turned out for a change.
LAK I couldn’t agree more. So when did putting minimal effort into your appearance become uppity? We all dress to impress someone on some level. It seems the yoga pant wearing slobs try to impress the other YPWS with how “down to earth” they are. Glad the thoughtfully dressed mom doesn’t care what the YPWS clique thinks.
^^^^And why would a group of women go out of their way to form negative opinions of a woman who doesn’t use her kids as an excuse to dress like a slob.
Perhaps she’s trying to separate herself from Carrie Bradshaw. The other ladies seem to have moved on fully from the show and respective characters, but don’t most of us still associate her w/ Bradshaw??
I like the jeans and boots, the jacket must go!
I just like her. Perhaps she loves fashion but isn’t as arrogant as to think she’s an authority on it. Or perhaps she just wants an image makeover and is trying to distance herself from the Carrie perception.
I believe her. She used to be big into fashion, but now with 3 children it has taken a back seat. She is a woman with a new set of priorities, and it shows. I do wish she would put some blonde in her hair though, the highlights are so flattering on her.
Her complexion looks really yellow a lot of the time.
i really do not understand the hatred for this woman. she is deeply involved in nyc projects; she attempts to live a relatively normal life despite her wealth/fame; she enjoys the high profile glitter events she’s associated with.
and she gets busted for wearing print jeans/coat. and if she was dressed in all black, you’d bitch about that.
walk the streets of the west village sometime; you’ll see people in far more fashionable gear.
It’s because she’s strong and successful. I get the horse comparison and many lovely women have equine features (Giselle Bunchen, Naomi Campbell, etc) but she’s not unattractive. She’s a goddess.
Yeah-I don’t get the hatred either. She actually seems pretty grounded for being a celebrity.
Something that I’ve noticed that I really don’t like on this site-all the negative comments about the appearances of certain female celebrities. God forbid you aren’t young and beautiful. SJP and Jennifer Aniston in particular come to mind. Both are attractive women but they are in their 40’s and not conventionally beautiful. Every time there’s a post about either of them there are very mean comments about them being “ugly” or looking like a horse, etc. It’s one thing to comment on someone’s hair or clothes (things that can be controlled) but to rip someone apart because they aren’t conventionally pretty/beautiful or because they are 40+ is cruel and obnoxious. I don’t care whether it’s IRL or online-it’s nasty. Honestly, I actually like seeing actors/actresses who look more like regular people. I think it’s refreshing.
Perhaps SJP is trying to distance herself because fashion isn’t all she is interested in. She seems very intelligent and is probably tired of being asked the same things over and over again.
Also, BS on the “because I have kids I have to look sh!t because I don’t have time to care about how I look” thing. How hard is it to pull on a pretty dress, put your hair up in a neat chignon or ponytail, chuck on some lippy and mascara, and put a pretty pair of flats on? 5 minutes max!!! But at least SJP brushes her hair unlike Jennifer Garner
I like Sarah’s over the top style.
The SJP mantra is that nothing ever occurs as a result of her own motives. That’s right, she just happened to get herself appointed executive producer of SATC so she got more money than the other actresses. She just happened to be the only one who never did nudity. And there have been stories around for years about her strong arming designers to keep the clothes (I believe Pat Field explained this by saying that SJP grew up poor.) And so what she donates her time to “causes.” Charity work is another way of promoting yourself and your image, it’s by no means a selfless act. A self-less act would be to write out a 1M check and STFU.
Well, that’s harsh. BTW, she did grow up very poor.
A person can be a clotheshorse AND very charitable.
For someone who’s not into fashion, she sure doe enjoy getting sent a lot of dresses (and infamously, cutting herself out of an Alexander McQueen one).
I think she’s fibbing. May I suggest the word:
clotheshorse
It’s weird when someone this desperate for attention tries to deny the info our eyeballs passes to our brains.
This woman claims she’s naturally that size when we can see the lack of food intake so I guess she thinks the public is stupid.
You like money, you hoard money, you like attention so between jobs you go for street paps.
Like how her millionare, jet setting grifter president is helping kids by spending their inheritance.
Limousine liberalism is a con that hurts people and always has an excuse for doing the opposite of what one says.
Don’t get the appeal of either of them ?
People are strange. Carrie was a television role. Get over it. She’s a mother of 3. What do people expect? Ball Gowns everyday!!!