By Jasmin Malik Chua / Source: Ecouterre

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Don’t confuse the actor for the role; Sarah Jessica Parker doesn’t quite buy into consumer culture the way Carrie Bradshaw did on HBO’s Sex and the City. In fact, a recent viewing of The True Cost, a documentary about the fashion’s social and environmental impacts, served as a bit of an awakening for the multi-hyphenate performer, producer, and entrepreneur, particularly when it comes to shopping for her 14-year-old son. (She and her husband, fellow thespian Matthew Broderick, also have 7-year-old twin girls.) “I will only buy secondhand clothes for my son, James Wilkie; The True Cost really changed me,” Parker told The Edit, an digital magazine by luxury retailer Net-a-Porter. “The one area I’ve had a hard time with is pants, but I buy used T-shirts and sweaters for him. Track pants are hard—boys rip them; I don’t know how to get around that.”

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CARRIE ON

The film may have also influenced the production of SJP by Sarah Jessica Parker, a line of shoes that she admits is less than accessibly priced.

“I would love to be able to offer a woman a $69 pair of shoes but … the heels are going to break, and they’re going to be made under conditions that I would feel really lousy about,” Parker said.

“I would love to be able to offer a woman a $69 pair of shoes but those are never going to last her. The heels are going to break, and they’re going to be made under conditions that I would feel really lousy about,” Parker said. “How could I ask anybody for their hard- earned dollars, even $69, if they would have to replace the shoes in two months anyway?”

That’s when George Malkemus III, CEO of Manolo Blahnik, and a key collaborator on the line, stepped in.

“So George said we are going to make our shoes in Italy, the way shoes should be made,” Parker added. “We are going to go to Tuscany, to fourth- and fifth- generation shoemakers, and we’re going to find a way to make a shoe for $395. Now, that isn’t accessible for a lot of people, that’s out of touch, but I couldn’t give them a $69 shoe that would break.”

It was equally important for Parker that her new range of little black dresses for Bloomingdales, SJP LBD, be manufactured fairly and proudly in the United States.

The debut piece, a sleeveless jersey top with a tiered tulle skirt, gives a sartorial nod to her famous alter ego. “Quite sentimental, if you know what I mean.” she wrote on Instagram.

Still, Parker isn’t done separating Sarah from Carrie. In fact, she’s just getting started.

On the set her latest TV drama, Divorce, Parker worked with costume designer Arjun Bhasin to ensure that not a stitch of her character’s clothing was purchased brand new.

Read more @ Ecouterre