Confessions of a former Sex and the City addict: I secretly despised Carrie Bradshaw.
Here was the country's most glam television character, a New York City newspaper columnist, parading around in the likes of Prada and Gucci and two holy Christians -- Dior and Louboutin.
"A real journalist could never afford those clothes!" I'd scream at the television set. Believe me, I would know.
So when I heard that Sarah Jessica Parker -- the actress who played Carrie on HBO's hit show -- was teaming up with discount chain Steve & Barry's to produce a line of low-cost, high-style clothing for women, I felt tremendously validated. Maybe someone had heard all that screaming.
Parker, it seems, claims to have heard the cries of millions of wanna-be fashionable women like me.
"Women should be able to wear great clothes and not lie in bed at night feeling guilty about how much money they've spent," she's said, about the line of more than 400 apparel and accessory items. "High quality, luxurious clothes do not need to cost as much as we've been led to believe."
And so now Steve & Barry's is selling "Bitten," a collection of lightweight clothes that cost no more than $19.98, that Parker says she contributed to on just about every level, from conception to design.
The S&B;'s folks stress that the line is of SJP's imagination -- not Carrie Bradshaw's, which is an important distinction.
Carrie was a quirky, over-the-top gal, prone to wearing Manolo Blahniks with short-shorts, or pink feathers, floppy flowers and "ghetto gold."
Parker -- a more conservative dresser -- "has an incredible sense of style," all her own, says Howard Schachter, the company's chief partnership officer. And more importantly, "she grew up in humble beginnings ... She was this shopper who knows what it's like to struggle to look really good and feel really good about what you're wearing."
After spending a few hours exploring the line at the Eastpoint Mall Steve & Barry's location, I'd have to agree with Schachter. The clothes are more Parker than Bradshaw -- mostly because they both have "humble beginnings."
This first incarnation of Bitten -- denim jeans and skirts, seersucker shorts, featherweight shirts, polka-dot dresses, wool sweaters, demi bras, pajamas, flip-flops, flats, and accessories galore -- is very cute and absolutely affordable.
A pair of round-toe flats for $9.98? A shirt for less than $15? These are clothes that journalists -- and other working girls -- can afford.
Crystal Summers, an English teacher at Patapsco High School, couldn't stop praising the prices of Parker's clothes, on a recent shopping trip.
"I'm a teacher; I don't get paid in the summer," said Summers, 31, while carrying an armful of clothes to the dressing room. "But a friend told me she bought a bunch of stuff here. So I set aside $100, to see what I could get."
At just $18 over her budget, Summers walked away with a lot: two pairs of jeans, a pair of pants, two shirts, two bras and four pairs of underwear -- all which she declared comfortable and, for the most part, well-fitting.
Summers was incredibly happy with her purchases, and it's easy to see why. If you have the time to decipher the mysterious way the clothes are sized (One pair of size 0 cotton pants fit my frame perfectly; while a pair of size 4 ankle-zip jeans I could barely button), you can find a number of wearable, comfortable, even cute, outfits to sport this summer.
But -- and I'm loathe to say it, after all that screaming I did at the TV -- the line needs some more of Carrie Bradshaw in it.
Some items do have fashionably interesting details -- say, a two-toned button or an embroidered lining -- but most of the clothes are way too plain.
Carrie wouldn't have crawled into bed at 4 a.m. in some of Bitten's plain cotton tees. Nor would she have walked Aidan's dog in those boring, preppy deck shoes.
"I think the shirts are good for everyday wear," said Summers, who plans to return to Steve & Barry's for some silver Bitten accessories. "I don't think I'd go back if I was looking for an outfit to go out in."
Parker has said in interviews that these are accessible, affordable clothes for everyday women, "simple American sportswear ... [for women sized] from 0 to 22, from 5 to 11 in shoe sizes."
It isn't supposed to be red-carpet worthy, apparently. And it shows.
But I think, like me, most women have a hard time separating SJP from Carrie Bradshaw. When I see Parker as the face of any product -- the Gap or L'Oreal -- I expect a higher standard of fashion and beauty, not just "affordable" and "well-made."
Two friends, Rebecca Stanton, 20, and Tiffanie Curreri, 19, shopped the Bitten line recently and declared the clothes, just "OK."
"It's nothing, like, super fancy," said Stanton, a sophomore at Villa Julie College, who was buying a pair of forest green wedges with a fun cork heel.
"But," added Curreri, who attends the Community College of Baltimore's Essex campus, "the prices are good."
If that's all that Steve, Barry and Sarah Jessica really were going for, they've hit their mark.
But it's such a great concept, I have to hope that the line will progress from its humble beginnings -- the same way Parker did -- to a more fashion-forward look that will set it apart from the Old Navy's and H&M;'s of the world.
Every day women might not realistically expect Italian couture for $20 or less. But, even at those prices, we'd still love some sexy in our city shorts, thank you very much.
tanika.white@baltsun.com
To see video of Sarah Jessica Parker talking about her fashion line, go to baltimore sun.com / bitten