Last update - 00:00 06/12/2006
The devil wears Prada and the world wears jeans
By Ilit Mainemer
Sporting flaming red hair, skinny, low-rise jeans just barely revealing her stomach, a red Marilyn Monroe T-shirt and green high-heeled sandals, Patricia Field walked on the stage of the Lev Theater in the Ramat Aviv Mall last week to describe her work as a costume designer. Her objective: To relay her take on styling to the local audience.
The Hollywood stylist and costume designer told guests at a press conference that today nearly everyone - from Bill Gates to a junior broker - wears the same thing: Jeans and a T-shirt. Clothing, she said, is simply a shell, but individuality is expressed in accessories and styling.
Field's own clothes appear to suit her stylish personality and unique body language. Her style is punky, eccentric and clever - far from elegant and far from Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue labels. Nothing in her appearance resembles the clothes worn in the film, "The Devil Wears Prada," or the television series, "Sex in the City," for which she is famous.
Trademark quirky combinations
The day before the press conference, Field selected clothes from stores in the mall to create outfits reflective of her style. She dressed models with the same philosophy reflected in the "Sex and the City" wardrobe. Whether wearing a black jacket over a strapless gold-sequined top, diminutive shorts and a gigantic bag emblazoned with images of dogs; or green sweat pants, a tailored, yellow coat-jacket, a black-and-white wool bag, low, gray boots and sparkling, gypsy earrings, models showcased Field's quirky combinations and emphasized the significance she attaches to both opulent and bargain-basement accessories.
Field has transformed once taboo combinations into permissible and even appropriate outfits.
Take, for example, a buttoned blouse under a dress, worn over knee-length pants - all in different colored plaid; or a striped Lurex knit worn with a checked woolen jacket and orange, plastic shoes. A few Israeli labels were showcased at the conference, mainly from the Castro chain. However most of the clothes Field selected were from non-Israeli chains in the mall like Zara, Pull and Bear and Top Shop. This fact, of course, raised questions regarding Field's opinion of Israeli fashion and local style.
Field says she is frequently asked for her opinion on local styles, and says Israeli style is very international. She adds that nearly all nations have access to the same information today and that there are no longer any real differences in fashion in the world; she sees this as a positive development.
Designing a fantasy fashion world
Field is considered a trend-setter in the fashion world. Last year, she won an Emmy for costume design for movies and television. Her designs for "Sex and the City" earned her enormous praise, and her store in New York City has been a fashion industry leader for 30 years.
Recently, she moved her base of operations from Soho to the Bowery in downtown Manhattan, where she sells products bearing her own "House of Field" label.
Field says "Sex and the City" created new fashion trends in New York City and around the world, empowering women to become more original in their personal styles.
Fields says she was surprised when her creations became international hits, but said that her famous flower pins - or any other universally wearable - became a hit because it suited women aged 15 and 50, weighing 50 or 100 kilograms, and was neither too expensive nor too edgy.
Her most recent project, costume designing for the hit film "The Devil Wears Prada," drew more than a little criticism.
Some believed her styling failed to meet the high expectations of a film that examines the competitive world of fashion.
Others took the film to task for omitting the creations of young, of-the-moment designers, like Marc Jacobs, Chloe and Marni.
Field responds to the criticism by saying she made the film for the world - not for the fashion magazines. She says Jacobs would have been a good choice, but Chanel was there and many more people are familiar with the Chanel label. She adds that her objective was not to document the fashion industry, but rather to entertain the audience and create a fantasy fashion world.
Cooperation and dialogue
But Meryl Streep did wear lavish clothes: from Valentino and Prada to a vintage line by Donna Karan.
Field says that working with Streep was a wonderful, moving experience and what first altogether attracted her to the film.
She says it was a great opportunity to make Streep, whom she describes as professional and intelligent, look wonderful.
In general, Field says she engages in dialogue with actors, offers suggestions and listens to what they have to say.
She considers herself a "primary editor," someone who cooperates with actors (sometimes bringing a performer eight or nine outfits to choose from) to enable them to feel comfortable performing in front of the camera and focusing on their craft.
Her next project will apparently be a film version of "Sex in the City."
Field admits with a smile that she heard this circulating and she says she will work ruthlessly in her position, because the ultimate goal is for people to enjoy themselves. She believes it is important for the movie to be good.
Field says she seeks emotion and a challenge in a script and this is what motivates her to choose projects.
As far as future projects are concerned, Field says she will wait to see what surfaces, but is focused for the time being on a film about a New York call-girl and her call-girl friends.