Sarah Jessica Parker Gets Bitten

Fashion icon, Sarah Jessica Parker has embarked on a new career as fashion flame for the world with her collection of chic, cheap fashion called Bitten. Designed with her input and approval by designers from the Steve and Barry retail house, Sarah Jessica Parker tries to bring fashion to the masses with low cost, high trend wear. The star of the HBO hit, Sex and the City, Parker tries to lend her name and credibility to the idea that fashion is not just for the rich but a right to and for all people.

Themed in partnership with the marketing department of the Steve and Barry chain, Bitten's theme is 'fashion is not a luxury, it's a right'. With that thought in mind, Sarah Jessica Parker admits that she was 'bitten' when the executives from the Steve and Barry chain first pitched the idea to her after her first visit to the Manhattan Mall store. A figure with immense popularity and name recognition, Sarah Jessica Parker's name means quality, and trendy garments the envy of anyone who watched an episode of the sitcom where she played, Carrie Bradshaw.

The collection includes over 1,000 pieces of fashionable apparel for everyone. The collection will be merchandised in a store-within-a-store environment featuring specially designed fixtures, signage packages, and plasma monitors running segments of The Bitten Story, a documentary on Parker's life and her vision for the line. The pieces will be sold exclusively at all Steve & Barry's shopping mall locations across the country beginning June 7, with every item priced at $19.98 or less. The collection will boast an assortment of over 150 styles and more than 400 apparel and accessory items and grown to nearly 500 apparel and accessories by August with the introduction of the fall line.

Parker worked with two Steve & Barry's designers to develop the line, which includes suit separates, shirts, dresses, lingerie, denim, T-shirts, nightgowns, cashmere sweaters, swimwear and other items. Steve & Barry's held down costs by using virtually no advertising, manufacturing its own clothes and selling in large volume, said Howard Schacter, the retailer's chief partnership officer. Steve & Barry's is based in Port Washington, N.Y., and operates 200 stores in 33 states.

The BITTEN collection was designed for women of all ages and sizes. Carrie Bradshaw loved Jimmy Choo and Prada. This collection is far from runway refurb. With a full size range from XS-XXL in tops, 0-22 in bottoms, and 5-11 in shoes very few women will be unable to find something just for them when they visit a Steve and Barry's store. The garments shown at Sarah Jessica Parker's visit to the Oprah Show were dazzling in color and style, causing the audience to baste in anticipation for the collection's premiere.

What has come into question is if Sarah Jessica Parker has departed from what made Carrie Bradshaw so famous on the show, Sex and the City. Her quirky, strange style built a cult like following around the nation as trend-driven young women based their shopping prowess on what they saw Parker wear in previous episodes. With that appeal came a pricetag along with it. None of the garments Sarah Jessica Parker wore on the show could be sold in a Steve and Barry's store. More often than not, designer originals or the latest in fashion chic was the order of the day for the marketing dynamo on the long running sitcom.

In Bitten, consumers will have to decide if a watered down Sarah Jessica Parker outfit is as hip as the more expensive, less saturated variety. With stiletto pumps and high primp dresses, Parker set the standard for hip and cool the entire time the show was on the air. Now that she has pressed the envelope and broadened her style to include less glamour wear her appeal may increase or die in the process.

At the launch of the line at the Manhattan Mall Steve and Barry's, shoppers lined up to purchase the new line in droves. With a new consumer base of shoppers who would avoided Steve and Barry's it appears that while Parker's decision can be questioned, the executives at the retail chain cannot.