Fans of Sex and the City and its spin-off, And Just Like That..., have always known Carrie Bradshaw is a bona fide fashion girl. (Do I have to mention the Manolos or the Fendi baguettes?) Filming AJLT's third season in New York City, Sarah Jessica Parker showed that her most iconic character is also a bit of a literary darling. In addition to being photographed in her favorite hybrid shoe trend of the summer, Parker-slash-Bradshaw was also spotted with her hands on Sally Rooney's new (and unreleased) book.
Let's start with the familiar: the fashion. Parker was seen filming outside of a brownstone apartment on Tuesday, July 2, in an outfit she previously wore for another shoot in June. Then and now, the look's high point was a pair of stark white, hybrid Mary Jane-pumps by Maison Margiela. Parker paired them with a semi-sheer long-sleeve tee and a distressed denim skirt, also by Margiela.
Between the first day of filming back in June and her latest sighting, Parker didn't change up her outfit all that much. She wore her hair down, her face free of heavy makeup, and her hybrid Mary Jane heels unadorned. In her arms, Parker also carried an unexpected accessory: a tiny gray kitten. (Plot points involving the cat, TBA.)
Running up and down the stairs of the set's townhouse, Parker make the towering shoes look as natural as slippers—not an easy feat in a market dominated by actual flats and Mary Janes. Of course, Carrie Bradshaw is the last character who would abandon heels entirely, no matter what's happening in the zeitgeist.
Hybrid shoe trends are becoming a fixture in Parker's wardrobe, on and off set. Last week, she wore a pair that combined a ballet flat's curved toe with a lower pump heel and a Mary Jane strap. Days later, she filmed yet another And Just Like That... scene wearing a pair of single-strap Mary Jane heels. Those were outfitted with a sparkly crystal strap—and complemented her twist on the capri pants trend.
Kitten co-stars and towering Mary Jane heels are a lot for one outfit to handle. Still, Parker's on-set look wasn't done there. The real star of her accessories lineup would make noted fashion bookworm Kaia Gerber jealous: She was photographed carrying a copy of Intermezzo, the fourth novel by Irish author Sally Rooney.
Sally Rooney's novels are the It Girls of contemporary literature, and ones that flesh-and-blood It Girls love to be seen reading. They aren't simply best-sellers. Normal People's blue and green cover was a fixture in street style in 2019, even ahead of the soulful Hulu adaptation starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal. Before Beautiful World, Where Are You came out in 2021, early copies were trophies in cities like New York. Celebrities including Taylor Swift, Emily Ratajkowski, and the aforementioned Kaia Gerber have all recommended Rooney's sparse prose and mercurial narrators in interviews.
Intermezzo, the book Parker held in her hands on set, is Rooney's fourth and highly anticipated book. It's also only available for readers to pre-order until its official release in September—meaning Parker pulled some strings to get a copy.
Wearing designers straight off the runway is a flex Parker has made many times before. (See: the sheer Simone Rocha dress she wore weeks earlier.) Reading soon-to-be-blockbuster books before they're released is a new kind of insider moment for the star—and one that anyone with an active Goodreads account will envy.
Parker-slash-Bradshaw's summer read won't be available for immediate purchase until September 24. You can, however, shop her equally-covetable hybrid shoe trend from the picks ahead—and pre-order the book for a matching moment when it's finally available.
