Sarah Jessica Parker talks about being Carrie on the big screen.

SJP talks to Elle Magazine about being Carrie on the big screen, why she relates to Hillary Clinton, and how many Blahniks she really owns


Although a little wan, she looks every inch the fashionista-cum-columnist who graced television screens and magazines since the inception of SATC. "This is Halston," she says of her dress when asked. "It's borrowed. My purse is borrowed. It's Fendi... And these are my own tiny diamond earrings," she says touching her earlobes. "And the fragrance is mine."





What's the main difference between Carrie and you?


I think everyone asks you that question, right? Oh, there are just vast differences. We've made such different life choices. The list for me would be endless. First of all, I've been with one man most of my grown-up life and have a child and I'm from a big family. I really think the thing that is most similar is our affection for this city. The thing I've learned most from her is how to be a better friend, honestly. I love the kind of friend that she was and is and it really made me want to be that kind of friend. It's hard to find the kind of time those women have for each other

Since the end of the series, you've become an entrepreneur with your fashion line, Bitten, and your own fragrances, "Lovely" and "Covet." And your son has grown up, too. Did all that make you feel more distant from Carrie and did it make going back to being Carrie a little bit harder?

My husband [Matthew Broderick] recently said you can leave a show on Broadway for a year and come back and think, "I'll never know the lines again!" But it's like muscle memory, and it's a bad cliché but it's like riding a bike. It sounds so simple to say that, but we played these parts for a long time and we didn't have any rehearsal and there was one table read [for the movie]. That was it. Our schedule was so concentrated and crunched and completely un-doable on paper. The first week you're nauseous. You feel like you've done everything badly and fallen short of the mark constantly. But I felt like that at the top of every season. So I [rationalized that] this was par for the course. You've just got to rely on the writing.

How does the term fashion icon sit with you? How do you live with that on a day-to-day basis?

I don't. It's really not something I spend a lot of time [contemplating]. I think that's in large part due to the show and [costume designer Patricia Field]. I begged her to do the show. I begged her to do the movie. She was booked on nine other jobs. It's really not something that I would feel comfortable commenting on because I think it seems kind of odd. I think it was really born of the character in a lot of ways, and I learned a lot from Pat and I'm still learning from Pat. And so it's really not the essence of who I am. I don't think about it. As a working mother, the last thing on my mind when I'm trying to get my kid out of the door in the morning to get him to school on time is how I look.

There are people who act like you're Imelda Marcos, but it has been reported that in private you only own six pairs of Manolo Blahniks. What's the truth?
I don't know the number. First of all, I don't really count. I've inherited so much from the show. This is a perfect example of a person who you play on television [becomes confused with who you are in real life] and the waters get muddied. I don't shop like her. I don't buy shoes that much like her.

In contrast to her, you would have the money to buy them.Well, I might have a little bit more disposable income. But it just is not a priority in my life in the same way. It just doesn't happen. But it doesn't mean I don't love shoes. I love shoes, but I'm not as vigorous a shopper. And I don't count them, I don't really know how many [pairs of shoes I have] but I will tell you that certainly I have more than six pairs inherited from the work. But a huge amount is archived. I won't touch them. I'm too nostalgic.


Would you consider Carrie a modern feminist?
I think the feminist community would not want me to say that. I think they would disagree. I think there's a lot about her that has to do with independence and making choices, right or wrong, and keeping her own counsel, and I think a lot of that is identified with the feminist movement. But I think there are a lot of her choices that vocal feminists have not liked. That's the beauty of living in a democracy — we're all allowed to disagree and have different opinions and then we get to vote.

Are you a registered Democrat?
I am a registered Democrat, and I will say this has been an incredibly exciting race. I have suffered along with Hillary in certain ways that she's been vilified in the media and the press. I'm extremely excited about Barack Obama and I think — well, honestly, without being too political, I think we have two amazing candidates.

But you're not behind one specific candidate?
I'm contentedly conflicted.

Interview by Karl Rozemeyer for Elle, photos courtesy of New Line Cinema