Patricia Field: The Fashion Behind Sex and the City

7 May 2008

Patricia Field and Kristen Davis

Carrie's signature name necklace is instantly recognisible amongst all 20-something women, her Manolo Blahniks still make us jealous and we'll never forget the cute french outfit she wore in that emotional final episode. Sex and the City just wouldn't be the same without the fabulous fashion we all love and that fashion wouldn't be half as fabulous without the creative genius of stylist Patricia Field.

Female First look at how Patricia shaped the New York fashion scene before making us all fall in love with the wardrobes of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda.

Patricia Field is New York born and bred and even since back in the days of her first boutique, which she opened in Greenwich Village in 1966, she's always chanelled that fun, free, back-street Big Apple edginess.

The boutique was hugely popular with urban fashion lovers, young punks and most notably drag queens and soon became a defining factor in the urban style of New York's glittery nightlife.

In 1986 Patricia decided to try something new and turned her hand to styling for the screen. She started out in the costume department for a Michael Mann sixties-era mafia series, "Crime Story" and after a few made-for-TV films and mini series' she was awarded an Emmy for her unique and believable sense of style- now there was no stopping her!

In 1995 Patricia first met Sarah Jessica Parker when she styled her for the film Miami Rhapsody and the two became great friends. This friendship is what led to one of the greatest examples of fashion on TV we've ever seen.

Sex and the City first hit our screens in 1998 and Sarah Jessica knew just who to suggest for the costume department. Patricia jumped at the chance to get her hands on the wardrobes of what were to become the most stylish New Yorkers around.

It was Patricia who decided to give Carrie that name necklace, make her fall in love with Manolo Blahniks and wear a prom dress to go shopping. This brave and admirable styling helped make the show the success it was and also earned Patricia four Costume Designers Guild Awards for Excellence in Costume Design for Television and a second Emmy for Outstanding Costumes for a Series.

"I find it such a creative process working with Patricia Field," says Kim Cattrall who plays Samantha Jones in Sex and the City, "Because there’s such excitement in the room. To come to a costume fitting with someone like Pat Field, where there are at least 16, 20 racks of things, it’s just a free-for-all of trying things on. It’s like going to a fabulous trunk show."

Kristen Davis who plays Charlotte Yorke also loves working with Patricia: "There were just tables of bags, every new bag that you haven’t seen in the store yet," she says, "And there were tables of shoes. It was just like Mecca"

Since Sex and the City's TV run ended in 2004 Patricia has remained at the top of her game. In 2006, she took on the unenviable role of costume designer for the fashion industry mickey-take The Devil Wears Prada. The film was supposedly based on Vogue magazine’s real-life editor, Anna Wintour- who has a massive influence on the fashion world and it's designers. Therefore getting top designers to agree to be involved wasn't easy.

However this didn't stop Patricia and the finished film sees Meryl Streep’s character Miranda Priestly dressed in Bill Blass and even Prada while Anne Hathaway flitted between the likes of Dolce & Gabbana and Chanel throughout.

This film showed once again how Patrica has a real talent for picking out those items that we will all lust over in the months to come. A certain La Rue handbag worn by the main character, Andie, in the film became one of the must have fashion items of that year and replicas were popping up in high street stores everywhere.

Despite her huge success Patricia hasn't forgotten her roots and still enjoys running her New York store. She now runs 302 Bowery, a two-level boutique featuring plenty of her trademark edgy style, as well as a full service salon. She also designs for her own fashion line House of Field.

When Sex and the City producers decided to make the show into a movie it was only natural to get Patricia on board. No one else knows the wardrobe of Carrie and co like her and the fans just wouldn't accept anything other Patricia's style for the much-anticipated return of the SATC girls.

But, as Patricia herself admits, it wasn't an easy job returning after so long and recreating the style of the TV show on the big screen:"I had to come up with some kind of action, by which I could follow some philosophy about the movie," she explains.

"And basically, the time that I was concerned about was this four-year gap," she added, " It just had to be intelligent, it had to have a reason. There had to be a logic behind the way they looked, because those girls are a part of everyone’s living room, and they will check it out, detail for detail. So there has to be a real truth there."

Well we've already had a sneaky peek at some of the outfits in the new film, which is released later this month, and the fashion looks better than ever. Patricia is sure to fill the big screen with plenty of big dresses, gorgeous designer bags, to-die-for shoes and hot must-have accessories- why would we trust anyone else to dress our favourite girls??

Caz Moss- Female First