VERONA — “I can now wear pajamas on the streets, which is great for everybody, not just for me,” said actress, designer and businesswoman Sarah Jessica Parker ahead of the annual Intimissimi runway show, a fashion event focusing on the Italian innerwear brand’s newest lingerie collection, held here on Wednesday.
Parker chose to meet the press before the show sporting one of the brand’s pajama sets in a pale-mint lace version, matching it with high-heeled nude satin sandals from her own SJP Collection footwear line.
Intimissimi has tapped Parker as the face — and body — of the label for the first time, although it first worked with the actress back in 2012. The photo campaign and TV commercial were shot around Manhattan’s landmark locations including the city’s Public Theater and the West Village.
“It’s [about] choice, how you choose to walk out of the door, what you‘re trying to say about yourself. In the best of all possible worlds it should be your choice. I think this campaign is about feeling confident telling somebody who you are,” said Parker about the concept behind the images.
With the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements still holding momentum, Parker noted the campaign fuels the conversation around these topics. “I think the destination point…really is about creating safe and equitable work spaces, professional lives where women can flourish and reach their potentials. But movements take time, they’re not over and reach their conclusion overnight; they are challenging, they are hard, people have to be heard, people have to learn to listen, people have to learn to speak up and I think for some generations it’s been more difficult to accept, for many it feels threatening,” she said.
The commercial’s soundtrack by Italian singer Caterina Caselli, with her classic song “Nessuno Mi Può Giudicare” [Nobody Can Judge Me], also resonates with Parker’s own ideas of freedom and empowerment, which are about “choice, liberty, liberation…it’s how you conduct yourself through the world, how you conduct relationships with other people and family and friends and professionally, and about respecting other people’s choices to be themselves.”
Strolling around New York in an Intimissimi pajama set in black silk is something Parker felt totally confident about. “I’ve never stopped doing it, it’s something that we did a lot — me and my character Carrie,” she noted. Fashion has definitely played a key role in Parker’s career, shaping the audience’s perception of the actress who candidly admitted she doesn’t “feel encumbered by [it], I’ve had amazing experiences with designers and working in fashion myself…those experiences have been really meaningful to me.”
“It’s my job to make choices, professionally, that remind people that I am an actress,” she contended. Fashion aside, Parker is gearing up to film the third season of the HBO comedy series “Divorce” this fall.
Irina Shayk walking the Intimissimi fashion show.<br />Ph. Daniele Venturelli
Daniele Venturelli
Straight after the runway show, Parker is headed to Deauville, France, to receive the “Deauville Talent Award” at the 44th edition of the city’s American Film Festival, where she will be honored for her career as an actress and producer. In November, Parker’s latest effort “Here and Now,” the romantic drama by director Fabien Constant, will hit theaters. “It was an incredible experience. I’ve long admired Fabien’s work; he was one of the most exciting filmmakers I’ve ever worked with,” she said.
Before hitting the movie screens, Parker will appear in the Intimissimi’s first TV spot, which was unveiled by the company’s founder Sandro Veronesi. In the commercial, the actress is seen dressing up in a pajama set and matching “bralette” to go out — running errands, walking down the brownstones’ iconic steps at 66 Perry Street where her “Sex and The City” alter ego, Carrie Bradshaw, lived and eventually showing up on the red carpet in the same outfit.
Chiara Ferragni attending the Intimissimi fashion show.
Daniele Venturelli
Held at the company’s headquarters, a 20-minute ride from Verona, the Intimissimi show, dubbed “Enchanted Forest,” presented a runway extravaganza with models including Irina Shayk, Isabeli Fontana and Nadja Bender. Parker attended the show on Wednesday night sporting a white-lace top paired with a Fifties-inspired peacock-blue skirt. The event was also attended by Alexa Chung, digital entrepreneur Chiara Ferragni — a few days after her much-publicized wedding — and local influencers.