Publishers Weekly
10/10/2022
Costume designer Field makes a sparkling debut with this recollection of her influential career. Born in 1942, in New York City, Field’s mother worked hard to ensure that her daughter had the best clothes from luxury department stores, including Bloomingdale’s. Field opened her first clothing store in 1966, and during the 1970s and ’80s, she amassed an impressive group of clients and artist friends, including Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. In 1987, she landed her first job as a costume designer for the film Lady Beware, which led to high-profile jobs in the film, music, and television industries. In the 1990s, Field gained a foothold in the hip-hop community after Puff Daddy’s then-girlfriend shopped at her store. Later, Field’s role as the costume designer for Sex and the City cemented her status as a creative visionary; she fought for Sarah Jessica Parker to wear the memorable pink tank top and tulle skirt in the show’s opening credits. Field is a natural storyteller, whether she’s recalling past relationships or her thought process behind styling choices. Fashion aficionados will relish this passionate ode to the power of style and individuality. Agent: David Kuhn, Aevitas Creative Management. (Feb.)
From the Publisher
A sparkling debut...fashion aficionados will relish this passionate ode to the power of style and individuality.” — Publishers Weekly
“A spirited personal history and a love letter to New York, fashion, and LGBTQ+ culture.” — Booklist
“Fashion lovers and fans alike will love the author’s anecdotes and photos from a unique life spent at the intersection of art and trendsetting styles....A bright, colorful memoir of an interesting life.” — Kirkus Reviews
"A nostalgic dive into a slice of fashion history, a behind-the-scenes look at famous TV and film costuming, and a celebration of the contributions of LGBTQIA+ culture." — Library Journal
"[Patricia Field’s] retelling of fashionable escapades from coming of age in 1960s New York City to the present day are laced with lessons, love, and loss, the personal stories acting as a confessional of sorts." — Vanity Fair
Library Journal
01/01/2023
Fashion history buffs and fans of iconic on- and off-screen style will find much to like in this memoir by an Emmy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated costume designer. Field's name may be familiar to devotees of fashion-forward entertainment, such as Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada. Readers curious about her creative process will find satisfaction in her recollections of sourcing and building character-driven costume. Her contributions to the counterculture scenes of the 1970s, '80s, and '90s may be lesser known to general audiences, but their significance is made clear through anecdotes full of recognizable names and style trends that eventually became mainstream. Her eponymous NYC boutique was the epicenter of several fashion revolutions, due in large part to the free rein of expression fostered within the LGBTQIA+ community. Insider photographs help bring the exuberant era to life. Detailed depictions of the New York Ballroom scene provide an enlightening look into this rich and influential subculture. VERDICT A nostalgic dive into a slice of fashion history, a behind-the-scenes look at famous TV and film costuming, and a celebration of the contributions of LGBTQIA+ culture. Readers from several points of entry will appreciate Field's accomplishments and her perspective.—Shannon Titas
Kirkus Reviews
2022-12-07
A “famously impossible to corral” clothing stylist reminisces about her life as a one-of-a-kind New York fashionista.
Field learned to appreciate “quality garments and the value of an unrelenting work ethic” from a Greek-born mother who ran a successful dry cleaning business on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. But rather than adopt the 1950s fashion sense her mother tried to instill in her, Field showed early on that her taste—which left no room for “cashmere sweaters, Mary Janes, A-line coats and Peter Pan collars”—was, in its eclecticism, “cool and fierce.” Meanwhile, her personal life, which later included friends from diverse backgrounds as well as male and female lovers, began to mirror her love of variety. Field’s first post-collegiate job was as a sales clerk in a discount department store, where she quickly revealed a flair for fashion merchandising and making all clothes, regardless of price tag, look enticing. “I love to make everything beautiful,” she writes, “be it a $3.99 blouse, a Payless shoe, or a Chanel tweed jacket.” Field later opened a small boutique and discovered a passion for styling clients. Her eponymous second store became a mecca for disco lovers, music stars like Madonna and Lenny Kravitz, artists like Basquiat, and New York’s gay and trans demimonde. An ever widening social circle, increased exposure, and business success led Field into costume design for films, including Lady Beware, and hit TV shows Sex and the City and Emily in Paris. Of all the accomplishments she catalogs in this book, however, perhaps the most inspiring was fully coming into her own after more than three decades of self-doubt. “It might have taken me until my sixties,” she writes, “but I was finally my own woman.” Fashion lovers and fans alike will love the author’s anecdotes and photos from a unique life spent at the intersection of art and trendsetting styles.
A bright, colorful memoir of an interesting life.
