Sarah Jessica Parker promotes new clothing line at Randhurst

It's too bad Sarah Jessica Parker is a celebrity.

Because she seems like a really nice person, someone you would want to have a long chat with.

Unfortunately, that wasn't possible at her appearance Friday at Steve & Barry's, in Mount Prospect's Randhurst Shopping Center.

Reporters, of course, had more access to the star of "Sex and the City" than the myriad autograph seekers thronging the store.

But the event was as stage-managed as one of her television shows. You were limited to what you could ask and had to compete with the clicking of cameras and other reporters' questions.

The appearance was part of a promotion for her new clothing line Bitten, which is Steve & Barry's clothing equivalent of its Starbury shoe line. Both boast affordability without sacrificing appearance. Nothing in the Bitten line costs more than $20.

After a short wait, reporters and photographers were escorted to a black-tented enclosure, where as many questions were fired at her as time allowed. A Steve & Barry's executive acted as timekeeper, saying, "It's up to you guys. I'll cut you off at the right time, but fire away."

Dressed in a charcoal polka-dot shirt, with layered jewelry in gold tones (description courtesy of a more fashion-conscious fellow reporter), the diminutive Parker was friendly and accommodating. At one point, she complimented a reporter on how she looked wearing a pink Bitten top. "Can I say it looks much better on you than it does on me? I can't wear collars. I always envied women that can wear collars. I'm too short. That looks really lovely on you."

Asked about the idea for the Bitten line, she said, "The inspiration honestly has been the women on the street. I spent a lot of time on a television show with a very devoted audience .... and I just felt like really they should be what we have in mind."

She said many viewers don't have access geographically or financially to the kind of fashion that one has at one's fingertips in a big city.

What's unique about the Bitten line?

"I would like to think that what's unique is that we really thought a lot about really really well made 'affordable clothes.'

"Anything that you or I would want to wear should be available to everybody."

Parker said her husband, Matthew Broderick was also in Chicago "shooting something" on Wednesday.

The S & B executive made sure we kept our questions Steve & Barry's-related, saying, "Let's keep it on Bitten," when a Sex and the City question surfaced, so I chimed in with, "Does your husband wear Starbury shoes?"

She answered, "I don't even know if he's actually even been given them."

As the executive declared time was up, Parker also made sure I was able to ask one more question. When will the Sex and the City film be out, I asked. She said, "If we make it, I'm assuming it will be a summer '08 movie. ... We were always summer fare, so I think we'll stick with that."

Once free from our clutches, the woman who plays Carrie Bradshaw was herded out to meet a reception worthy of royalty from those forming a line that ran out the door and nearly out of the shopping center.

And I thought, wouldn't it be great if a celebrity promoted a line of affordable gasoline?