The Cinderella-esque, bejewelled high-heel shoes that Sarah Jessica Parker designs for her eponymous label could arguably be described as evergreen. Dubai’s Shangri-La hotel has taken the notion quite literally this Christmas and from Thursday, December 8, its lobby will feature a towering shoe-tree made up of the 51-year-old actresses seasonal satin pumps.
The stylish centrepiece comprises SJP’s latest range of luxurious, Italian-made shoes in a spectrum of colours with bold crystal embellishments and her trademark stripe to the back of the shoes.
Hot on the heels of a Dh70 million refurbishment, the Downtown Dubai hotel is proud to unveil its new lobby and the hand-finished wooden tree sculpture, which will remain in place until January 6.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with such an elegant designer brand for our festive season centrepiece,” says general manager Gerhard Hecker. “The shoe-tree will bring extra glamour to the newly renovated lobby, perfectly placed for our hotel guests and local residents to enjoy. This will certainly create a huge buzz with our fashion conscious UAE residents and visitors alike.”
Best-known for playing the lead role of Carrie Bradshaw in the HBO television series Sex in the City, Parker teamed up with footwear guru George Malkemus III, the chief executive of Manolo Blahnik, to create her self-titled brand in 2014. With pieces priced starting from Dh1,600, Parker's line now includes bridal shoes, boots, bags, select apparel and jewellery collaborations. She's also expected to open her first stand-alone boutique in her native America this month.
Two years ago she rolled out her maiden collection at Bloomingdales and Harvey Nichols in Dubai, signing the soles of shoes which had been snapped up by hundreds of fans.
"Having spent so many years, rather publicly, wearing so many pairs of shoes, I learnt a lot about them," she told The National during her UAE trip. "I've worn every shape, style and decade of shoe; from vintage to straight off the catwalk, cheap, overly priced, painful, comfortable. Ultimately I had the courage to ask George to partner with me and I knew what I wanted to do."
SJP’s creations this season flit from gold metallic peep-toe pumps and velvet fawn courts to crystal-anklet satin heels and leopard print ballet flats.
“Women in Dubai treat satin as an everyday fabric while in the United States satin is a special-occasion shoe, a wedding, birthday and black-tie affair,” said Parker at her line’s debut. “Here, it’s a very important part of the wardrobe — and an abaya with a bright colour shoe poking out is a way for a woman potentially to convey who she is. It perhaps says a lot about how she feels about herself, what she wants us to know. Sixty to 80 per cent of the colours in Dubai do not exist in the US. Almost none of the ornamentation either.”
While shoes remain a passion for Parker on and off screen, she's not turning her back on her acting career any time soon having most recently been seen in the HBO comedy Divorce.
The SJP shoe-tree will be in Dubai's Shangri-La hotel lobby from Thursday, December 8 until January 6 2017. Visit www.shangri-la.com/dubai/shangrila/ and www.sjp-collection.com/
