Trying on Shoes with Sarah Jessica Parker and Gayle King

Once upon a time, high-heel devotee Gayle King met an up-and- coming shoe designer named Sarah Jessica Parker. Laughs were shared, pastries were inhaled—and a pair of footwear fanatics finally found their match.

Sarah Jessica: "These heels are high, but not like you're on stilts. There's nothing sexy about not being able to walk." Adam and Gayle: "Amen!"

Next: The designer recalls her first pair of Manolos

Left: "I think it was in 1985 or '86 that I bought my first Manolos," Sarah Jessica recalls. "I had very little money but still ordered four or five pairs." Right: "The foot wants what it wants," Gayle says with a shrug, "and mine wants heels!"

Next: See the designer's inspired designs

Left: Made in the shade: "The Pola in this color is my kind of nude!" Gayle exclaims happily. Right: "Shoe rules are a thing of the past. You can wear coral or jade or any shade to the office. Color is the new neutral," Sarah Jessica declares.

Next: "I feel like I've died and gone to shoe heaven" — Gayle

Left: Gayle has a Cinderella moment as Adam and George Malkemus, Sarah Jessica's business partner, look on. Right: "The grosgrain ribbons make SJPs easily identifiable to others and really personal to me," Sarah Jessica says.

Next: Sarah Jessica has named her shoes after people who inspire her

From left: 1. Debating the merits of T-straps versus ankle straps. 2. Sarah Jessica and Gayle show off the Ina. 3. The Pola, named for the great silent film actress Pola Negri.

Next: The trick to elongating your legs

Left: A Cronut, a Brigitte, and one very happy Gayle. Right: Sarah Jessica instructs Gayle not to buckle her ankle strap so tight. "If it hangs a little slouchy, almost like a bracelet, it will elongate your leg." Gayle is stunned: "You mean all these years I've been wearing my shoes the wrong way?"

Next: Minty green Bobbies

Left: What color goes with a little peach dress? According to Sarah Jessica, everything from gray to berry to vermilion: "It only clashes if you feel it clashes." Right: The confection known as Bobbie.

Next: The Carrie Bradshaw-inspired touch

Left: "Carrie Bradshaw often wore a silk flower in her lapel, and I gave one to Etta," Sarah Jessica says of her most flirtatious design. Right: The line also includes some fantastic bags and one perfect trenchcoat: this linen number trimmed in grosgrain. (Sarah Jessica is doing it in navy, too.) 6. The confection known as Bobbie.

Next: Mix and match

Sweet dreams are made of these.

The collection will be available exclusively at Nordstrom starting February 28.

Next: Inside Gayle King's closet makeover