Weekend Fashion News Alert: Sarah Jessica Parker Launches SJP Collection, Rodarte Sisters Turn to Filmmaking, and Ivory Coasts Puts Ban on Skin-Lightening Creams

Though Sarah Jessica Parker tried to keep her accessories collection under wraps, as a crowd of onlookers observed her shooting the brand’s campaign atop the Bloomingdales sign on East 59^th street, the cat was out of the bag, so to speak. “Well. I guess the cat’s out of the (little brown) bag. As usual, we will keep you posted on every detail as we are able. I’m under a strict gag order until then. Xx, Sj,” said the Parker via Instagram as reported in a fashionmag.com article.

Found in 2014 with business partner George Malkemus III, the SJP collection is inspired by Parker’s love of the 1970’s and the single sole shoe. The collection is due to launch in mid-June at select Bloomingdale locations and on the Bloomingdale’s website.

Rodarte sisters branch into film

While there is lots of fashion currently going on at the Cannes Film Festival, one of the biggest Cannes fashion­ stories is the film written and to be directed by Rodarte co-founders Kate and Laura Mulleavy. Their feature film, “Woodshock,” is set to star Kirsten Dunst, a friend to brand, and may be of the science fiction genre—though mums the word.

Though the Mulleavy sisters have had some fashion predecessors that spanned the worlds of fashion and film—Tom Ford is working on his second feature film, Karl Lagerfeld shot took a film turn in Chanel’s “Reincarnation” starring Pharrell Williams and Cara Delevinge, this particular foray is a path that is not easily trodden by the fashion cognoscenti.  And success in one genre doesn’t portend success in the other!!

“Woodshock” is currently in pre-production.

No more skin-lightening creams

Skin-lightening creams have been popular in the US, South America, the Caribbean, Asia and now Africa for several decades, if not centuries. However, the Ivory Coast has decided to do something about the potential harm that these creams can do to pigment.

“Cosmetic lightening and hygiene creams … that de-pigment the skin … are now forbidden,” the ministry of the Ivory Coast said in a statement. “The number of people with side effects caused by these medicines is really high,” said Christian Doudouko, a member of Ivory Coast’s pharmaceutical authority, warning that they could cause skin cancer as reported in fashionmag.com.

Many whitening creams and lotions contain mercury and its derivatives, cortisone, vitamin A or more than two percent hydroquinine, a lightening agent that is used to develop photographs.

Women on the African continent, the Middle East, South America, the Caribbean, the US, India, Pakistan, Japan, and other Asian countries readily use lightening creams because lighter skin is sometimes considered more beautiful among these populations. This practice is also starting to spread to men as well.

“What we see in the media is the lighter one’s skin is, the better one’s life,” adds Elidje Ekra, a dermatologist at Abidjan’s Treichville University Hospital, referring to advertisements in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s biggest city, that show models with lighter-than-average skin.

—William S. Gooch