And the bride wore… velvet.
So says Sarah Jessica Parker, upon reminiscing on her 1997 NYC nuptials to Matthew Broderick.
“I wore teal blue velvet Robert Clergeries with a rounded toe and a classic Clergerie heel, from Barneys,” Parker told FN at the New York presentation and debut of her new bridal collaboration with Gilt, which launched today.
Apparently, Parker’s customers have the same idea. The actress and designer of her namesake SJP Collection brand said that the capsule — which includes 15 exclusive shoe styles along with ready-to-wear bridesmaid dresses and bridal gowns — was inspired by the many women who have purchased colorful, non-traditional bridal shoes from her existing collection.
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“When we first launched, four years ago with Nordstrom, we had a shoe called ‘Bobby,’ which was a mint, almost Tiffany blue or pistachio — a scalloped suede, single strap, open-toed sandal. And almost immediately, that first week, a couple of women bought it as their wedding shoe,” said Parker.
Since then, she and SJP Collection partner George Malkemus III have developed styles for the brand that strike the right balance of non-bridal statement dress shoe with bridal touches, like those with a pale-blue grosgrain ribbon that satisfies the “something blue” tradition.
“People still buy from our evergreens. I think the beauty is to the individual,” said Parker, who as of late has also been working diligently at her NYC pop-up shop. “This week, in the last three days at the store, we’ve had probably five or six brides. And they have all picked something different. And it’s not predictable. And you can’t be sure of it. And it’s rarely white. Most of our brides end up picking color.”
Though Parker’s biggest bridal moment is undoubtedly of her as a fuming Carrie Bradshaw (dressed in a gigantic white Vivienne Westwood gown, metallic gladiators and feather headpiece) hitting Mr. Big with flowers in the “Sex and the City” movie, her best on- and off-screen bridal shoe moments have been full of color: Carrie ended up actually getting married in a pair of cobalt-blue satin Hangisi pumps by Manolo Blahnik.
And Parker’s aforementioned velvet Clergeries, which she paired with a black Morgane Le Fay dress are pure alt-bride inspiration — as is the wedding venue where she and Broderick tied the knot. “We brought electricity into that place, they didn’t even have indoor plumbing,” said Parker of the Angel Orensanz Center, a former synagogue that the couple found in their old Lower East Side NYC neighborhood (it’s now a notable wedding venue in the city). “We got it for $5,000 for 48 hours, but we had to redo the bathrooms. But it was so beautiful. We only hung candelabras from the ceiling and we didn’t even have an aisle to walk down. So there were no shoe shots. There were no real photo shots. We were too embarrassed, which probably was foolish.”
