OUR STORY

Through our life-long love affair with fashion, urban lux lifestyle brand JP HARPER NYC was launched with the sole intent to elevate wardrobes to envy worthy status, while providing the savviest movers and shakers carte blanche to be unapologetically bold & bad ass on the regular.  We cater to "It Girls" who understand that making a statement involves no words and shutting it down simply requires entering a room, inspiring onlookers to level up. 

Shanda Harper & Jacqueline Purcell, New Jersey natives and the creative visionaries behind brands, FAT ASS LASHES, JP HARPER NYC, and THE GIRLS PLAYGOUND, met as teen moms and quickly became besties, bonding over their insane obsession with fashion, beauty and all things girly.

We always knew we’d co-own a business together, and throughout the years made several attempts. But the truth of the matter is, we were often derailed by the overwhelming reality of being young mothers, coupled with a lack of advice, knowledge, business connections and straight up coin.

Fast forward to grown woman status, we stepped out on faith deciding to finally fulfill our lifelong dream. And in Aug’17, our drive and determination led us to launch our first online business, Lash Brand FAT ASS LASHES®️. Eleven months later we parlayed that venture into a one year Lash Kiosk at the Menlo Park Mall, where we thrived selling our lashes among brands like Sephora, M.A.C, NYX and Elf.  Then God whispered, nah… BIGGER!

Next, we set our sights on creating a fashion brand that caters to "it girls", trendsetters and die hard fashion lovers who refuse to blend in with the masses. After months of conceptualizing designs, creating patterns & sourcing fabric (oh yeah, ya girls have been sewing since high school), we built our website, created a sixteen piece collection and in Aug’19 launched our second online business, Fashion Brand JP HARPER NYC®️. Fun Fact: the name is derived from Jacqueline’s initials, Shanda’s last name and our hot girl summers spent stomping the streets of New York City. Once more God whispered, nah… BIGGER! 

Who knew four months later, we’d be signing a lease, undergoing a complete renovation, being stalled due to a Pandemic, then in the midsts of the Pandemic, in July’20 open the doors to our first Retail Store, THE GIRLS PLAYGROUND®️, a deliberately luxe boutique where we combine the worlds of fashion & beauty under one roof. Talk about a Vibe!

Welcome to the luxury that is JP HARPER NYC.