Pat in the City: My Life of Fashion, Style, and Breaking All the Rules

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Darren compromised. He let us shoot it on condition that we shoot another option. I found a powder blue sleeveless sheath dress. But in the end, it was the tutu. It was always the tutu. As soon as he saw a shot of Carrie Bradshaw getting splashed when a passing bus – with her image and the line “Carrie Bradshaw knows good sex” on its side – hit a street puddle, Darren loved it.

She grew up believing fashion and costume were interchangeable. Her mother dressed her in Peter Pan collars but Field loved the Lone Ranger, and dressing up as a cowgirl. She also knew how to put together an outfit. Her favourite piece of clothing was a Burberry raincoat with woven leather buttons bought on Madison Avenue, which she wore with prim Pringle cardigans and clumpy boots. verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ Field on the runway for her Art Fashion Runway show at Art Basel in 2019. Photograph: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

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Field got the SATC gig after meeting Parker on the set of the 1995 romantic comedy Miami Rhapsody, one of her earliest gigs as a costume designer, and it was Parker who introduced her to Star. They had already shot the pilot for SATC with another costume designer, but if you rewatch it, you can see it looked too 90s, and too realistic. In one painfully familiar scene, Carrie is working from home in a baggy blue shirt and grey jogging bottoms. Field would change all that. If I were a fish, the hook that used to catch me was how someone put themselves together. I just looked for creativity Field is wry, sharp and funny, but occasionally her memory fails her. Some of the book’s more granular anecdotes, of which there are many, were obtained through its co-author, the journalist Rebecca Paley, who interviewed former employees. Such as the time Madonna had to wait outside until the shop opened (she had arrived at 10am and they didn’t open until 11am) or how Cardi B used to pay for clothes with single dollar bills (she used to be a stripper). Or how Matt Dillon never wore underwear when trying on jeans. I don’t know Paris and Paris fashion well enough to do it.’ Field, who was a consultant on Emily in Paris, explains why she pulled out after two seasons. Photograph: Stephanie Branchu/Netflix Field (right) on the set of The Devil Wears Prada with Meryl Streep. The male producers were against the idea of Streep having white hair for the part. Photograph: Cinematic Collection/Alamy

My grandmother had a lot to do with my young years and my aunts as well. I always thought of myself as Greek, and I knew I was Greek through them. My dad was Armenian and unfortunately passed away when I was about seven, so I’ve never really had as much of a chance to absorb the Armenian culture. Field has little to say about its sequel, And Just Like That. She didn’t work on it because of a schedule clash with Emily in Paris. But like everyone, she was “up in arms that [Kim Cattrall] didn’t go”, she says. “But I get it, that was personal with her, and it doesn’t matter now.”I have a little social life in Athens. I knew some designers in Greece; what I really liked the idea of was to use them because number one, people don’t see that. Number two, their uniqueness. Nobody had it, no costume designer used them, but I knew them. They were happy that I used them and I was happy to because I knew my audience had never seen these pieces before. They were unique and creative without following trends like jeans and sweatshirts. While writing about your life, you simultaneously write an ode to the past eras of New York City and chronicle gentrification’s impact on the downtown art scene. Did your writing bring up any emotions about the now lost aspects of New York? This outfit is original, and inherent in the actress,” I said. “If this show’s a hit, the opening will be memorable and stay fresh.” I knew anything less would be dated by next season. People want to see what they haven’t seen before – not some trendy shift dress from Fall 199-whatever. From the opening credits to every single scene of the series, however long it might last, my overriding aim would be to make sure that while the clothes were expressive and helping to tell the story, they were never burnt with exposure. Field is about to publish her memoir, a colourful and compelling tell-all about her life and career before and after the show that made her name. In it, she describes Sex and the City (SATC) as like “an in-law that just won’t get out of your life”. But she also named the book Pat in the City, describes Sarah Jessica Parker (who played Carrie) as “the person I’ve enjoyed dressing the most” several times, and knows better than to gloss over what she calls “its mix and match fashion”. She writes about how Carrie’s aversion to scrunchies – a detail that would later become a plot line – was Parker’s idea; how Parker believed that her character shouldn’t wear tights, even in snow; and how Field managed to construct up to 50 outfits for each episode.