SHINING BRIGHT

Sarah Jessica Parker on her fashion quirks, balancing family with work and why lab-grown diamonds are a girl's best friend

- 

On a crisp, sunny afternoon, just two days after New York Fashion Week draws to a close, Manhattan shimmers with early autumn colours as Hello! heads to the newly opened Faena Hotel to meet one of the city's ultimate fashion icons: Sarah Jessica Parker.

As Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw, she served up countless scene-stealing looks, from the tiered tutu and pale-pink tank top featured in the show’s opening sequence to the John Galliano newspaper dress worn in the series as well as one of the SATC movies. Her style in the sequel show, And Just Like That... (which just concluded after a three-season run), was equally iconic.

Thankfully, the actress, producer and entrepreneur – who turned 60 in March – shares the same love of high drama as the character she immortalized. Consider her 12 showstopping Met Gala moments, including in 2006, when she arrived on the arm of Alexander McQueen wearing a one-shoulder tartan gown custom-made by the late designer to fit the theme AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion.

UNIQUE STYLE

But today, she's wearing a demure black dress, her honey-toned curls tamed into glossy waves, with a light smattering of gloss on her lips, subtly smoky eyes and an immaculate complexion.

This provides the perfect blank canvas to showcase her glittering jewels: a pear and round brilliant-cut lariat necklace paired with cushion-cut stud earrings, both from Astrea London, the luxury lab-grown diamond brand she recently joined as global creative director and shareholder.