Style And The City

Patricia Field forged a new fashion frontier through her work on pop culture phenomenons Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada. Now almost 80, the legendary stylist who changed the way women dressed is still stealing the show.

- Hannah-Rose Yee

Patricia Field loves tutus. Adores them. As a costume designer, she’s dressed at least three of her characters in long swishy numbers or frisky little ballerina skirts. It’s the romance of them: those whispers of tulle, the allusions to dancers and debutantes and dashing Prince Charmings, the way the tiers flutter – yes, flutter – as you spin around. Even if you’re spinning in consternation, as Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw does in the opening sequence of Sex and the City, clad in a pearly white tutu that Field fished out of a bargain bin for $5.

Tutus are part of Field’s personal and professional modus operandi, a way of dressing that she describes as “optimistic”. “Believe me, I would never be interested in doing a war movie, or a cop show,” she says, grinning. “That’s just not my style. I feel good with happy fashion. That’s my thing.”

Happy fashion it may be to her, but for those of us who consumed every sartorial second she produced – from oversized flower brooches to nameplate necklaces and every diva in Prada in between – it’s become a lot more.

Field’s distinct and discerning eye created trends that transcended the screen (who didn’t lust after a pair of Manolos in the noughties?) But her influence also surpassed fashion fantasy. With pop culture as her superpower, Field encouraged and enabled a generation of women to confidently express their personalities through their wardrobe.