The actress also talks to The Hollywood Reporter about her “no selfie” rule and shares update on Hocus Pocus 2.
While Sarah Jessica Parker spent over a decade acting as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City – with an enviable walk-in closetful of stilettos – Parker also has a knack for business that extends well behind her eponymous footwear line.
Over the past five years, she has also launched fragrances, sunglasses, books with Hogarth Press, and (most recently) sauvignon blanc in collaboration with New Zealand-based Invivo & Co. She has even partnered with a local tour guide company to offer an official Sex and the City Hotspots Tour, walking through 40 shooting locations from the iconic Darren Starr television series.
The 54-year-old star (and mot her of three) recently spoke at Bloomberg Live: The Year Ahead Summit alongside her business partner George Malkemus.
Parker launched her first line of fragrances in 2005, then turned to building her own eponymous shoe brand, the SJP Collection, in 2014. Tapping into her influence as a shoe-obsessed New Yorker, her line of women’s footwear ranges from sparkly heels to leopard pumps. She now has nine boutiques in New York, Las Vegas, Dubai and Canada, with international retailers globally.
At the Bloomberg talk, Parker explained how she and Malkemus arrived in New York the same year, in 1977, and shared the same vision for their shoe company. After the panel, Parker spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about what drives her business, while also talking about her selfie rule, her forthcoming play — a revival of Neil Simon’s 1968 Plaza Suite, in which she co-stars alongside husband Matthew Broderick, their first joint venture in 23 years — and her Instagram response to reports of a Hocus Pocus sequel.
As a public figure who has nine shoe boutiques with international retailers (that you often work in), how does the selfie factor play into your business?
The selfie factor is not a part of us. It’s not something we count on or use or is traded on, I will say. For us in the store, I don’t even do pictures. I go into the store, and I just work. The selfie has not played a significant or even slightly meaningful role in our business. The only pictures that are taken are while we are talking. What’s important to us, and why selfies don’t play a role, is that when people have their phones here [lifting up phone to eye level], they miss out on a whole human exchange…People put their phones down and they have a real exchange. When they do this [puts down phone], I’m convinced that it’s more meaningful than this [she does the over-the-shoulder selfie pose]. So, I don’t do that. And I think it has been better for us.
What’s important is that we get to know them. It doesn’t matter if they get to know me. I care that I know them. It’s a little hard for people at first, when they ask “Can I take a selfie with you?” But most of the time, they don’t ask. They just hold up their camera phones. It’s startling. But the minute they put their camera down and I get to know about their family, their life, it’s just so nice. I’m always glad.
Is Hocus Pocus 2 happening on Disney+ or what?
No, I don’t know. There has never been a conversation ever in our lives. Someone just asked me on Instagram, and I said: “We all said we’d love to someday.” But that’s the extent of the conversation. I’ve been asked so much recently about this — it’s a seasonal question… it’s appropriate! [When asked, “Any chance of a sequel?” last week on Instagram, Parker responded: “We have all said yes. Now we wait.”]
You and your husband, Matthew Broderick, will be reuniting on stage again for the forthcoming play Plaza Suite; how differently do you two prepare backstage?
We don’t know. We haven’t done it yet! We’ve never done it. We haven’t even started rehearsals yet. We don’t talk about those things in advance...
Where do your good business instincts as an entrepreneur come from?
I’ve surrounded myself with very smart people, who are leaders in their field. I’ve made a point of trying to work with people who I think are the best in their discipline, like George Malkemus, the shoe designer I work with for the SJP Collection. I think that if you’re curious and you’re learning and you want to be able to be a leader in your business, and for it to be meaningful to the people you hire, you better be informed. When you’re not, you better zip it and learn. So, when you are in a position to be in a conversation like this, I try to learn as much as I can and stay curious. I’m always asking why.
– Courtesy The Hollywood Reporter
