via Cathy Horyn's
blog in the NYTimes.
On Monday, I met up with Sarah Jessica Parker at Steve & Barry’s in Herald Square, where she recently brought out her clothing label Bitten. It was around 1 p.m., and the line for the checkout was very long, as it has been since the first day. We stood near the back of the store and gradually we were surrounded by a lot of shoppers, cell-phone cameras raised in that weird salute, and occasionally people interrupted to ask Parker when the sailor pants were due to arrive (in about two weeks) or just to say they liked the clothes. Parker had on a pair of Bitten ankle-zip jeans and a green T-shirt. We were joined by Andy Todd, the president of the company, and Howard Schacter, its chief partnership officer. Steve & Barry’s is a private company, so it doesn’t release sales figures, but Todd said, “We blew away our projections. It’s been beyond ridiculous.” A number of blogs have expressed disappointment with the label and the idea. One said it’s the sort of thing that Carrie Bradshaw and her “Sex and the City” friends would have mocked. My own feelings about the label are that the basics are solid, especially the jeans and the striped T-shirts and cropped hoodies, but that it needed more surprise. That may come with time.
SJP: What was most satisfying to me on the opening day was to see the preponderance of plus-size women and women of color. That’s what made me cry, and I’m not being treacle-y about it. People may have been disdainful about our clothes—well, it’s not for them. They have access. They have the financial or the geographical access to clothes. This is simple American sportswear, and we made the decision to size from 0 to 22, from 5 to 11 in shoe sizes.
What resonated for us on the first day is that women really got the point we were trying to make—which is you should have access to well-made, affordable clothes regardless of your size or where you live. It’s not this rarefied thing. Are we trying to do couture and red-carpet, to be Narciso Rodriguez and Nicolas Ghesquiere, for 20 bucks? Absolutely not.
Q: Have you had a lot of offers to do a fashion line?
A: Yes. I started to be asked in a serious way right when “Sex and the City” ended. I was really confounded by the offers, and it felt really fraudulent to consider them—mostly because they were real design jobs for a huge amount of money. It was the kind of money that designers who had been working for years should have the opportunity to receive. So I felt that the only reason for me to take one of these offers was money, and I’ve never made one of those kind of mercenary decisions. It’s not my approach. I can’t stomach it. So I always declined. And then along came Howard and Andy.
I really didn’t know about a Manhattan Mall and a Steve & Barry’s. I was dubious. I literally hired a team of attorneys to do the due diligence. For eight months.
Q: So how did they convince you?
A: Everything they said was effective. For the longest time it was all about my fear. Not about being exploited, but whether we could really do what they were saying. Can we really make quality clothing? Can we be relevant?
Q: And what did you think of the first looks you saw?
A: I didn’t love everything in that room, and I was afraid to be impolite. I didn’t want to offend anyone’s sensibility. I went back and I thought, “We’re going to start with what women need.” Not what they WANT. These are not women who generally have that choice. So let’s give them everything they need. It became a conversation. Now we’re into our fourth collection, summer ’08. I think we have a lot more for fall just in terms of options.
Q: Did you have any concern that maybe we don’t need more stuff clogging the planet. There is H & M and Target, and Topshop wants to open here.
A: Of course. I think I would have felt that if I didn’t understand the Steve and Barry’s customer. There aren’t H & Ms everywhere. And that’s very trendy fashion—it’s not what every woman wants. I don’t feel there is this surplus, in a way. To me, it’s about access.
Q: But what’s the long term? There’s a sense that labels like this have a short life span, like many things nowadays. Get in, get out.
A: The limited amount of branding that I’ve done has been really thought and thought through. Nothing I have done has been “let’s get in, let’s get out.” Not with Coty or L’Oreal, and not with Steve & Barry’s. My fatal flaw is that I have to be involved literally down to splitting the atoms.
Q: But the marketplace may be less durable.
A: I think the market will dictate that. I mean, the Times has been writing about this subject. I noticed that Eric Wilson wrote a piece last week, where the gauntlet was thrown down by a couple of people I really respect.
Q: You’re referring to Vera Wang’s comment that you should wear your own clothes?
A: I was so shocked.
Q: By the animus?
A: Yeah. I have a long history with Vera, and very friendly. I’ve been to her home. I understand the culture of her business has changed radically, not unlike my primary business where everybody and his mother, with little or no training, wants to be in acting. There are real interlopers in my industry, as in Vera’s.
This is not a cat fight—well, I was going to say I would wear her clothes but apparently I’m not allowed to anymore. [Parker laughs] But we’re really not in competition. This isn’t about competing with the work that Vera has done for years. I couldn’t possibly, nor do I want to. This is a very different endeavor.
Q: It touched a nerve.
A: Sure, man.
Q: Of course many designers, including Vera Wang, are now making clothes at mass-market prices. They seem to want it both ways. And some designers could enter this field but choose not to. What if Olivier Theyskens did a label like this, with jeans for $14.98? He’s hip and talented.
A: And [laughing] he has the prettiest hair.
Q: But designers like him won’t touch this market.
A: But why?
Q: Pride, maybe. Sophistication.
A: I also think they just want to drop in for a minute, like the designers did for the Gap. It’s a moment, a quick affair. But with this line, you have to be a little behind the eight ball. I don’t want it to be fashion forward. A lot of women can’t wear what Olivier designs. It takes time for their eye to adapt.
Q: Except to the consumer, it’s a curious kind of limbo these days. For designers as well.
A: I was so afraid in the beginning. I’ve seen all the people do this kind of line. And I was, like, money, money, money, money. [Parker frowns] I’m an actor. That’s really what I do. But I’d wake up at night and say this is a totally defendable move. What can people say to me—“how dare you want to make clothes for women who are size 16?” There’s no argument. Either you like it or you don’t. That’s the beauty of living in America. Or, it’s supposed to be.
We’ve had some criticisms, even before the line was launched. And I say, “Great. Bring it on. And tell me what troubles you about women in this country having affordable, well-made clothes. Let’s talk about it.
