--- title: Sarah Jessica Parker Used to Shop at Thrift Stores description: Sarah Jessica Parker opened up about where she found her fashion inspiration, including on the subway and at thrift stores. canonical: https://time.com/4588353/sarah-jessica-parker-thrift-stores-subway-fashion/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-02T15:19:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:00.776Z og:title: Sarah Jessica Parker Used to Find Fashion Inspiration on the Subway og:description: What would Carrie Bradshaw think? og:url: https://time.com/4588353/sarah-jessica-parker-thrift-stores-subway-fashion/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cef636634569bcd/6988b069656a3f0cc6bce07c/sarah-jessica-parker-fashion-inspiration.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: "Divorce" New York Premiere og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sarah Jessica Parker Used to Find Fashion Inspiration on the Subway twitter:description: What would Carrie Bradshaw think? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cef636634569bcd/6988b069656a3f0cc6bce07c/sarah-jessica-parker-fashion-inspiration.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sarah Jessica Parker Used to Find Fashion Inspiration on the Subway by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 2, 2016 3:19 PM UTC  NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 04: Sarah Jessica Parker attends the "Divorce" New York Premiere at SVA Theater on October 4, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images) NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 04: Sarah Jessica Parker attends the "Divorce" New York Premiere at SVA Theater on October 4, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 2, 2016 3:19 PM UTC To many, [Sarah Jessica Parker](http://time.com/4509526/sarah-jessica-parker-on-divorce-and-sex-and-the-city/) is synonymous with her iconic [_Sex and the City_](http://time.com/4512848/sjp-almost-didnt-do-sex-and-the-city/) character Carrie Bradshaw. But there’s so much more to the 51-year-old actress and mother of three: she’ll be launching her own fiction [publishing imprint](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/05/t-magazine/entertainment/sarah-jessica-parker-sjp-hogarth-tanehisi-coates-black-panther.html) with Hogarth in 2017 and she’s currently starring in HBO’s new show, _Divorce_. One thing we’ll always equate Parker with however, is her enviable sense of style, which she discusses with _InStyle_ as the cover star of their [January issue](http://www.instyle.com/celebrity/sarah-jessica-parker-style-twitter-january-cover). Before [Parker](http://motto.time.com/4440432/sarah-jessica-parker-thinks-she-doesnt-qualify-as-a-feminist/) was Carrie Bradshaw, she derived her fashion inspiration from the world around her. She told _InStyle_ her main fashion influences were “street imagery and girls on the subway.” In order to find her own “version” of that style, Parker ventured to thrift shops, which she said, “played such a huge part in my life before _Sex and the City_.” Parker’s fashion sense came from home as well: “My mom was the biggest influence. She had pretty firm ideas about how we would dress.” As much as Parker’s wardrobe causes envy, she doesn’t only spend her time shopping. She told _InStyle,_ “I dress based on what I have. I’m not a huge shopper, but I love beautiful things. ” She went so far as to declare her wardrobe as “standard,” but she does admit that she has “wonderful shoes.” Parker’s _InStyle_ cover is available on newsstands Dec. 9\. Read the rest of some of her highlights [here](http://www.instyle.com/celebrity/sarah-jessica-parker-style-twitter-january-cover). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4588353/sarah-jessica-parker-thrift-stores-subway-fashion/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4588353/sarah-jessica-parker-thrift-stores-subway-fashion/"},"headline":"Sarah Jessica Parker Used to Find Fashion Inspiration on the Subway","datePublished":"2016-12-02T15:19:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:00.776Z","description":"What would Carrie Bradshaw think?","url":"https://time.com/4588353/sarah-jessica-parker-thrift-stores-subway-fashion/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cef636634569bcd/6988b069656a3f0cc6bce07c/sarah-jessica-parker-fashion-inspiration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cef636634569bcd/6988b069656a3f0cc6bce07c/sarah-jessica-parker-fashion-inspiration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"Divorce\" New York Premiere","caption":"\"Divorce\" New York Premiere","creditText":"Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4588353/sarah-jessica-parker-thrift-stores-subway-fashion/","name":"Sarah Jessica Parker Used to Find Fashion Inspiration on the Subway"}}]}] ```