I was looking up “Duchessa Gardini,” the designer of the blue suede boots Sarah Jessica Parker posed about wearing in this episode, and apparently back in February in her Vogue profile (that I didn’t read, so that explains that) she revealed that it’s a company she made up so that SJP Collection could design some of Carrie’s shoes without using her name.
SJP was hesitant about showcasing her designs on the show at first. “There is no SJP collection in Carrie’s world; I don’t exist there because that would be too weird for me,” she told [Vogue].
“I didn’t want it to look like I was exploiting a business opportunity and HBO either, but as we were approaching my first fitting in May of last year, it became clear that there were still some holes Molly and David wanted to fill in terms of the accessories.”
My thoughts are: 1) I feel like that is exploiting a business opportunity, because there is no way those “holes” couldn’t be filled by a shoe that already existed in the world, but b) good for her for exploiting it! It’s not even exploitation, to me. She clearly wasn’t holding anyone hostage over this, or anything. But when your leading lady has a shoe company, almost entirely because of Sex and the City, it’s not that surprising to me that she would design some stuff for the new show. It seemed like a missed opportunity for her NOT to do that, so I’m glad to know she seized it. But did they ever name-check Duchessa Gardini shoes in And Just Like That? I can’t remember, but the whole argument about how it can’t be by SJP Collection because SJP doesn’t exist in the AJLT universe… that one lost me. It feels like addressing a note that no one was giving. Carrie Bradshaw wears plenty of shoes without saying who made them. That argument, to me, makes it sound more like they really did want to exploit this as a way to test-launch a higher-priced line for SJP Collection (and indeed, they did, and they are more expensive). Which, again… this does not offend me. SJP is a businesswoman. She made her pitch. Yes, maybe they were more likely to say yes, but who really suffered there because of that? Manolo? Gucci? Valentino? They’re FINE. They are not going out of business because of this. So, go get yours, SJP. Keep your Manhattanites employed.
[Photos: Steve Sands/NewYorkNewswire/Bauer-Griffin/Shutterstock]
