Patricia Field: "You Don't Have To Have A Lot Of Money To Have Style"

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Through the years, Patricia Field has become one of the world's most renowned costume designers. And it is not for less, because she has been responsible for the girls in the fabulous quartet of Sex and the City, Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda, have become fashion icons.

In a pleasant chat with Field in her studio, located in one of the trendiest areas of Downtown, Manhattan, the designer told us about her work in Sex and the City through the years. She also explained why you don't have to spend a fortune to look fabulous.

How have you managed to make Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda fashion icons over the years?

There has been no strategy. They have been 15 years of evolution. Season after season, year after year, the change in characters has taken place organically, I have had no strategy.

How is the process of choosing costumes for the characters?

I never come up with a specific idea of an outfit that I'm going to put on a character. I come with a general idea of what I want, so I send my team of assistants to find or buy clothes, shoes, wallets and accessories, and tell them the kind of things I want. It is a group of five assistants who know my taste and know what I am looking for. I tell them, for example: 'I want printed dresses, sequined shoes', and they already know the styles that I like, that's why I trust them. Afterwards, the costumes take shape once I meet the actor.

So, can the actors have a part in deciding what to wear?

Of course! I would never tell an actor that you can't put something on top of my dead body. Although I'm the one who has the last word, but the actor is the one who has to feel it, to feel good in that outfit, not me, because I'm not in front of the camera. For example, for a scene I can have several dresses and shoes, but when the actress arrives and puts on a dress, she might like some shoes for that dress and I like another pair. So it is necessary to know the personality of the character, but also of the actor.

Can you give us an example in which one of the "Sex and City" girls did not want to put on something you have chosen?

There is a scene when Samantha and Carrie are in the desert where Samantha appears wearing a hat. I designed that hat for Charlotte because I thought that if someone was going to be sheltering from the sun with a hat, it would be Charlotte; Besides, I thought it was going to look great on her black hair. But Kristin [Davis] didn't like it and put on another one. So I put it on Samantha and it fit her perfectly.

What is your favorite character from "Sex and the City"

I have no favorites. I created [the style of] these characters. I have a lot of fun with everyone.

In the first movie, Carrie changed clothes 81 times. How many times does it change in this second part? No, this time it doesn't have as many wardrobe changes, in fact, in this movie it changes half the time, 41. But in this movie Carrie is even more fabulous.

What is the most important fashion advice you can give us?

Do not wear clothes that are not your size. Forget all the rules, wear clothes with which you feel comfortable, beautiful, but that is clothes that fit you, that is your size.

What are your favorite store chains?

Zara and Top Shop are two of my favorites. They are very good chains in their area, which is clothing and accessories so you will look great without spending a lot of money. I don't want to have to spend the money to pay my mortgage loan when I go shopping. For shoes, I like Payless because they are of very high quality. They are shoes that, at least in manufacturing, have nothing to envy for designer shoes. I always put Payless shoes on cast actresses. I also like Aldo's shoes and accessories. It's not about how much the garment you wear costs, it's about how you wear it. You don't have to have a lot of money to be stylish. In fact, it is now fashionable to look fabulous without spending a lot of money.

Sarah Jessica Parker has been listed as the "Most Greedy Actress in Hollywood." What do you think of that?

As she has said on several occasions, if there is something that makes her so, it is that she grew up poor and now enjoys all those luxuries that she can give herself. She is in a position where she is offered many things because she has achieved a certain status and enjoys those benefits. Her contract stipulates that she keep all the clothes, shoes and accessories that her character, Carrie, uses. The things that the film production company has acquired, not the ones that the designers lend us.

Check out the trailer for "Sex and the City 2" here!

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