Sarah Jessica Parker announces shoe line is closing down after 10 years - after revealing why Carrie Bradshaw couldn't name drop brand on screen

She's made a name for herself playing a character who famously spent a house deposit on designer shoes.

So it's hardly surprising Sarah Jessica Parker pursued a Carrie Bradshaw-approved business venture off-screen.

But 10 years after she set up SJP Shoes, the mother-of-three, 59, has announced she is shutting her footwear brand.

A statement from the brand read: 'After 10 colourful years, SJP by Sarah Jessica Parker has made the difficult decision to close its doors this fall.

'The SJP Collection team expresses enormous gratitude to all of their loyal customers and supporters, as well as all those they’ve worked alongside.' 

Pictured: Sarah Jessica Parker, who has announced her shoe brand SJP Collection is closing down later this year

Since making this announcement, the brand has reduced its shoes - which once retailed upwards of £395 - by 25 per cent. 

According to Business of Fashion, the brand's New York store - which is minutes away from Carrie Bradshaw's apartment in the West Village - will close on 25 August, just 18 months after it opened.

The brand became famous for its colourful high heels, which are reminiscent of the styles Carrie Bradshaw wore in Sex and the City and And Just Like That.

In February 2014, Sarah Jessica Parker launched the brand with George Malkemus - who was head of Manolo Blahnik (Carrie's favourite brand in SATC) in the US at the time. 

SJP also included a nod to Carrie with her 'Hello Lover' shoes, which is a reference to a comment the character makes while window-shopping in the season four finale of SATC. 

Despite the clear Carrie Bradshaw connection, Sarah Jessica Parker previously spoke about the difficulty of wearing her own brand while filming And Just Like That...

Speaking to Vogue in 2022, Sarah explained: 'There is no SJP Collection in Carrie’s world. I don’t exist there because that would be too weird for me.

'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 [costume designer Molly Rogers] wanted to fill in terms of the accessories.'

Pictured: Sarah Jessica Parker at her SJP Collection store in the West Village, which opened in February 2023

SJP Collection's Hello Lover loafers have been reduced from £535 to £400 in the closing down sale

As a result, SJP and the costume team decided that any accessories from her own brand should fall under the fictional vintage label 'Duchessa Gardini'. 

She continued: 'We were thinking of an old Italian house. Our shoes are all handmade in Italy by third- and fourth-generation shoemakers, so it’s possible that you could have had a brand like this. 

'If it were any other show, that might not matter, but here the provenance of a shoe matters. People are curious whether the shoes are from the turn of the century or fresh off the runways of Paris.' 

Parker spoke about working on her character's wardrobe during an interview with FootwearNews, where she remarked that Bradshaw's taste in shoes was an integral part of her personality.

Pictured: Sarah Jessica Parker with co-stars Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrall during season four of SATC

SJP Collection also sold a pair of mismatched silk high heels reminiscent of the pair Carrie wore in the above photo, taken in season four

The SJP Collection mismatched high heels also featured jewels similar to the ones on Carrie Bradshaw's wedding shoes from Manolo Blahnik

'As fans of the original series are well-aware, fashion and specifically footwear have always been a deeply important part of the storytelling, especially for my character,' she said.

'Knowing Carrie so intimately, I felt privileged to be in a position where I could work with George to design shoes from scratch that were...true to both her fevered love of footwear and evolution of character,' she said. 

As well as shoes, the brand also sold SJP's four perfumes - including the fragrance 'Lovely', which first launched in 2005.

Other products included an SJP candle, shoe clips, headbands and a collaborative Samsonite suitcase. 

In February 2023, Sarah Jessica Parker opened her flagship SJP Collection store and mingled with customers who had queued in the street.