SEX AND THE CITY PLAYS CASH AND CARRIE AT M&S
Nicola Copping
The Times
May 23, 2008
UK
She brought us skyscraper Manolos, nameplate neck chains and
super-size-me corsages. They brought us bumper pack knickers and
Magic Shaper Shorts.
Patricia Field and Marks & Spencer? Hardly a fashion match made in
heaven but, come October, the Sex and the City stylist will launch
a 35-piece, one-off fashion range in Your M&S.
This is a retail coup that even the Topshop tycoon Sir Philip Green
couldn’t get his mitts on. "I wanted to get involved with a brand
that really understood women of all ages," asserts Field, who at 66
still sports miniskirts and hair the colour of chilli powder. And
she couldn’t have chosen better than Sir Stuart Rose’s mother ship,
whose advertising campaign stalwarts Twiggy, Erin O’Connor and Lily
Cole have long established themselves as emblems of its "something
for every woman, at every age" ethos.
Field’s exuberant style may threaten to pierce the M&S safety
net. However, the American stylist claims that her look started off
simple: "In my early teens, I wore jeans every day. I always dressed
simply; my hair is my only wildness." Born in New York to Greek and
Armenian parents, Field’s independent sartorial streak developed in
the face of her mother’s time-consuming professional life. "I made
my decisions very young, I never asked permission. This upbringing
is where my style starts."
Aged 24, Field opened her first fashion store in Manhattan’s Greenwich
Village. Three years later she was restless. She began to make
"things that we weren’t finding out there". In the early Nineties,
moving into film and television styling, Field made a life-changing
contact. Hired as a stylist on the set of Miami Rhapsody in 1995,
she encountered Sarah Jessica Parker. Three years later and the way
was paved for fashion’s most beloved character, Carrie Bradshaw.
Field’s eclectic approach to clothes was one powerful cog in the Sex
and the City machine. The sparky characterisation was mirrored by the
whimsical, memorable and, at times, eye-watering outfits. Carrie’s
puff-balls, Samantha’s shoulder pads and Charlotte’s prom dresses
burned an indelible mark on to women’s wardrobes. "Sex and the City
changed the way that women dress," Field cried. And she was right.
She won two Emmy awards, and an Academy award nomination in 2006
for The Devil Wears Prada. More recently she cast her eye back to the
fabulous four in the film version of SATC. Still based in New York, and
living large, she chooses to do so as a singleton but dates "primarily
women, but not exclusively". But can Britain’s women really be the
next Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda? Yes. Field made the best
of four very different women on set, four personalities that made up
the everywoman. How many times have you asked yourself which one you
are most like? In October, Patricia Field will help you find out.