Sunday March 29, 2009
Dressing the Shopaholic
By ESTHER NG
The woman who created wonderful wardrobes for a host of fashionable fictional characters shares the secrets behind the style.
A TRENDSETTER, a visionary, in-the-know scenester – this is how the fashion world sees Patricia Field, the stylist behind the iconic Sex and the City, reputedly the most fashionable TV series to date.
When the series soared in the ratings, gaining a cult following and status as a fashion phenomenon, Field emerged as an icon herself, and became one of fashion’s most respected fixtures.
And the key to her glittery success is to play by her own rules, never by anyone else’s.
“Being original, that’s the secret,” the 67-year-old New York native, of Greek-Armenian parentage, said in an interview with a group of international journalists before the premier of the Confessions of a Shopaholic movie in the Big Apple recently.
Having turned actresses into screen fashionistas in Sex and The City (on the small screen as well as the silver), The Devil Wears Prada, Ugly Betty, and Hope & Faith, among many others, it was hardly surprising that the flame-haired Emmy-winning costume designer was picked to dress the ladies of Confessions.
(Field was also nominated for an Oscar for her work on The Devil Wears Prada.)
For this movie, Field got her first inspiration from the script itself, and got to know lead character Rebecca (aka Becky) Bloomwood, the endearing and hopelessly uncontrollable shopaholic created by British author Sophie Kinsella.
“The character is a lively person, frantic, hyper and panicky, as she has to run away from her debt collector, among several others. When I met the actress (Isla Fisher who played Becky), I also found that she had high energy and positivity.
“I observed the way she moved, talked and dressed.”
Then, the stylist looked for parallels between the actress and character, as she imagined it.
“I just need to find things in common,” said Field, who came to the interview in a classy black top and skirt, a thick belt, and boots.
Keeping in mind that shopaholic Becky would have a huge, and eclectic wardrobe, Field made sure she had an array of colourful clothes at hand.
“Becky would not be wearing black every day because she’s a maniac when it comes to clothes. So there was the (much talked about) green scarf,” said Field, whose favourite, colour, incidentally, is green.
Energy, she explained, is like colour. “So, for this girl, I gotta go with colour.”
A trip to Japan followed, and the stylist came back with a grab bag of colourful clothes for the film.
“I told my guys that whoever has more clothes in these colours, just go and get them. Let’s just find stuff to fit this mood,” she said.
She styled Becky in designer labels (“oh, they were all there”) among a mix of other things, all full of colour.
Asked what was the most important article or accessory for Becky, Field said: “Her shoes, definitely. She is a jumpy and active person. But she still had to have high heels, so she managed to look cartoonish when she ran around.”
Thanks to Field’s impressive work and reputation, blockbuster action film producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who made a career swerve and produced Confessions, did not waste time looking for anyone else to dress his star.
“I was thrilled that I managed to get Pat to work with me in the movie,” he reportedly said.
The veteran stylist amazed Bruckheimer with her attention to detail and habit of incorporating bits of the character she was working with into the clothes she chose for them.
“Watching her work was a thrill for me. I saw that she spent a lot of time talking to the actors. She doesn’t just go and grab clothes for them, she gets into the characters.”
So, what does a fashion icon wear when she goes out, really?
Field, who owns an eponymous boutique in Bowery Street, Manhattan, catering to fashionistas and the fashion-forward, said: “I want to look like me wherever I go. I could be off to the Oscars, at home or with friends, as long as I look like me, who I am. That’s what I want to look like.”
An advice for women who, unlike her, perhaps, are drawn to wearing plain or dark colours, comfortable clothes?
“Just be yourself. Dress in whatever you are comfortable in.”
But if you want to move beyond just comfort and have that certain pizazz, here’s a valuable piece of advice from a top stylist: always add an extra “dimension” to a look.
Field gave an example: When Meryl Streep played “dragon lady” Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, the stylist thought it would be a great idea for the veteran actress to have white hair because it gave Field a wonderful setting in which to use colours.
“I could use the white with black, or red, and it allowed me to make it her whole fashion look, because it was sitting against something startling.
“The whole look was gorgeous because of the white hair,” she said.
Lamenting that she initially had to fight objections from the producers who associated white with being old, she sighed: “It was like a mental block to some of them (having Miranda’s hair white). But sometimes, we need something to break the cement to have something good.
“We just need to be brave,” the gravelly-voiced designer pointed out.
One wonders if Field herself is a shopaholic?
But no, the designer does not find many parallels between Becky and herself, except of course, that they both live in New York. Field is not into shopping sprees when she is not working, although she stressed, “But I shop, of course, that’s my job.”
When she is not working, she prefers to do other things, like shopping for her home “which is different”.
“I also love watching programmes on astronomy, physics, the universe, rocket science. Things that I like to learn, which I don’t know. I like to listen to intelligent people speak about things,” she said.
Field pondered when asked to compare New York fashion with that of Europe, particularly stylish Paris.
“French women are very complete in their dressing, they have their gloves, their hats, their belts, which I absolutely love.
“But in New York, most of the actresses I’ve worked with did not want gloves, hats. So, what is left?”
She noted that American dressing tends to be very casual and practical.
“Everyone dresses the same – T-shirts, V-necks, jeans. They are all the same type of articles. So, it’s how you accessorise and how you put it together that sets you apart.”
The veteran with more than four decades in the fashion business feels that “fusion” is currently blazing the fashion trail.
“Everything is a fusion of cultures now. We have fusion food, music, so why not fashion?”
People, she said, have more information and knowledge about everybody else’s culture now so it only makes sense to put them together.
“It’s the same soul at the end of the day. It’s like making mash potatoes out of everything,” she said.
‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ is currently showing in cinemas nationwide.
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