Sex and the City actor Sarah Jessica Parker launched a new sunglasses collaboration in New York City on Wednesday night and discussed what Carrie Bradshaw would think of her creations.
“I loved a pair of sunglasses a long time ago," she explained about the wraparound design she has created for The Sunglass Hut. "You’re combing the world looking for anything [like those sunglasses] and I couldn’t find it. Instead, I found partners that would let me recreate it in my own way for this decade," the Divorce star explained.
“I did it for everybody," she told the audience of fashion editors and models including Nina Agdal and Felicity Hayward in a Q&A session at the launch party. "I did it for America and I did it for the world!” she joked.
The actress looked peak New York in black leather pants, a black cardigan and glittering Mary Jane high heels.
For the New York-based star, who often rides the subway and is regularly spotted around Manhattan, the sunglasses were created out of necessity. "I never ever leave the house without a pair of sunglasses. I would never get off an airplane without a pair of sunglasses," she said.
“It’s a polite way of saying, "Are you sure you want to speak to me right now? I think we all have times and moments where you don’t want to suggest a character trait that you don’t actually possess that you’re mean or scary... it’s just enough of a shield that one might pause and maybe you don’t have time to look your very best it’s a huge amount of coverage,” she explained.
“I don’t want them to be b***hy, I want them to be perfectly hospitable but I’m not going to take them off," she said.
The design is a departure from the trend for tiny frames preferred by models including Gigi Hadid. “They’re not for me” Parker said about the style. “These [her design] are the glasses my mom wore. They weren’t exactly my the same... but every picture I have growing up of my mother in the sixties she’s wearing a wraparound. It’s one more example of your mother's always right," she said.
When asked if Carrie Bradshaw would wear her new signature shades she said, "I don’t always respond in a positive to this question about things but to these, yes. I don’t think Sarah Jessica exists in the same universe as Carrie Bradshaw but she would have a pair and they would say someone else’s name. We share a skeleton but that’s even confusing to me.”
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She went on to talk about her time as Carrie, saying, “I got to play somebody who cared a huge amount [about trends]. I learned a lot and loved wearing them but I’ve never been one of those people who followed [trends]."
She's also not a shopper like Carrie. "I don’t know what the trends are and I’m not a super-shopper - not for many years anyway." Instead, she finds inspiration for her designs in New York City. "I think what I like is being on the streets, that’s why I love riding the subway so much... I like cities where you see a lot of people.”
“When somebody stops you, I think that to me is style. When you’re most yourself and not trying to be or look like somebody else," she told the crowd.
Her own style is far more low-key than Carrie's ever was. "I really love a grey sweatshirt more than anything in the world," she said.
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