‘Sex and the City’: Costume Designer Explains Why Dressing the Men Was Challenging
Sex and the City was known for its stunning display of fashion. The series followed Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), a fashionista and writer living her best life in New York City. The series chronicled her life and experiences along with her three best girlfriends, Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon), Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), and Charlotte York (Kristin Davis).
Though costume designer Patricia Field loved dressing the ladies, the men she had to dress were challenging.
‘Sex and the City’ costume designer Patricia Field got her job because of Sarah Jessica Parker.
Parker and Field had worked together on a previous project, so when Parker got her role as Carrie Bradshaw, she remembered Field’s name.
“She’s very fashion,” Field told Salon. “So that was really very encouraging for me. She understood it. We had worked previously on a film in Miami. That’s where we met. Then history repeated itself with Sex and the City. She brought me to Darren Star, actually. Because she was fashion, you didn’t have to explain it to her. It was really fun to work with her on that level. She was secure in her fashion. She had a beautiful body because she was ballet-trained. She’s a tiny little one. But she wore those clothes and those shoes. It was inspiring for me.”
However, the men on the show were a bit of a challenge for Field.
The ‘Sex and the City’ costume designer says working with men was challenging
As much as Field adored her job, she found dressing the many men on the show extremely challenging. Unlike the women stars who leaned into fashion, the male guest stars didn’t always know how to embrace Field’s ideas for their characters’ style.
“You know what? It’s not men in general, but what makes it sometimes harder to dress men is because men are, in my opinion, in a box,” she told Salon. “This is what they can wear; it’s a polo shirt or it’s a shirt and tie. But it’s about a choice of four things. It’s almost like a uniform. I feel badly for the men because I like to see the men swing out a little bit.”
Field went on to explain that she wanted to dress guest star Blair Underwood in a pink shirt, but he pushed back against it. Years later, she ran into him dressed in a pink suit. “I was so happy to hear that because a little simple pink shirt? What’s a pink shirt? It’s nothing to me. It’s a pink shirt,” she said. “But a pink suit? Wow. It was very rewarding to hear that from him.”
Why Carrie Bradshaw wore Manolo Blahnik shoes
Fans who know and love Sex and the City know that Carrie’s signature shoe is Manolo Blahnik. Though she sometimes wore other brands, including Gucci and Prada, all of her big moments include the Manolos. There’s a reason why the particular brand had such a prominent place in the series.
Field worked closely with New York City shoe boutique owner George Malkemus who always gave her a major discount on that particular brand. When Sex and the City began, the shoe wasn’t so popular, but its exploded since then.
“George was more than happy to supply shoes when I began working on SATC, and Sarah Jessica was more than happy to wear them,” Field told Daily Mail.
