Per the video above, being that this is the "January" of fashion, what more of a perfect
moment to highlight fashion visionary, Patricia
Field, who, in my fashion, while she doesn't consider herself to be a visionary , in my fashion, she really helped to shape the modern view of fashion, if not through my favorite movie, "The Devil Wears
Prada", or her resume of business ventures in retail, it is most
certainly through her participation in
the looks of the coveted HBO series, Sex
and the City! In my fashion, during the 90's and early millennia, “Sex and
the City” set the standard for being an independent career women during a time
when women were exploring a new reality where classic views on misogyny and
gender relations were being challenged and exploited like never before. The
fashions styled by Field during the show's run was the driving vehicle to
delivering the shows retrospective on the the female point of view—which then got me to thinking: 1) how does
a stylist translate a message effectively with clothes, and 2) what makes a
great stylist, a “great” stylist and fashion visionary?
When one thinks of the 2005 movie, "The Devil Wears
Prada", yes we first think of the insufferable, Miranda Priestly, played
by, Meryl Streep, with that glamorous white bob. We also think about the bumbling
naivete of, Andy Saks, played by Anne Hathaway. But the main reason we remember
this movie is because of the character that had no lines the entire movie—the clothes! The clothes chosen for the
movie is what furthers that voyeuristic view of the fashion industry depicted
in the movie, for which reason, I'm sure, served as a large inspiration for
those of us pursuing careers in fashion now—at least it was for me! In 2007, on the way home
from a high school class trip to New York, "The Devil Wears Prada"
was the in-house movie on the bus ride—that’s when my head space turned from "reality"
to obsessing about the glorious world of fashion. I was absolutely captivated
by the beautiful images and the possibility of being in a position that allowed
me to be surrounded with the ultimate in beauty all the time, at all times of my day. The prospect of
dealing with fabulous clothes, photographs, and gorgeous people all the while exploiting the
beauty of our world aiding in consumer’s buying decisions by suggesting what designers
around the world were producing marvelous creations seemed like a natural
progression of where to use my talents considering, at the that time, I was an
obsessive photojournalist and photographer for my school’s yearbook.
Even though I must confess, the sardonic, aloof, austere
attitude depicted of Miranda Priestly tickled me so; it is the thought of being
around physical beauty all day that energizes my love for the industry. The
movie did a good job of depicting the process of developing a world class fashion
magazine. While fictional, "The Devil Wears Prada" uses a lot of fictional use of real fashion
figures which helps to take us further behind the scenes of the fashion
industry and the people who run it. The styling of each character is, in my
fashion, what gives us that real life sense of what the fashion world should be
if we were a part of the industry ourselves. It’s as actor, Stanley Tucci
(who plays Nigel), says in one of the DVD featurettes, “Fashion is the film. We [actors] are the adjuncts to the film.” Considering
all of this, I suppose it would be accurate to say that indirectly, Patricia
Field, would qualify as one of my greatest inspirations in fashion.
