The devil carries Field
Patricia Field in conversation with Sina Teigelkötter
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Meryl Streep plays toughe editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly in the film. And has a favorite phrase: "That's all. That's all." How many times have you heard from her while filming her, "That's all, Patricia!"? Icy stressed, of course.
Patricia Field: Not once.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: No power demonstrations on the set?
Patricia Field: No, but Meryl Streep did not talk much to me. It was amazing to see an actress who blends with her characters as unconditionally as she does. Even in the shooting breaks she was full in her role. She has never sat down with the other actors at a table. She should have been friendly again. After the first scene, she told her film partner Anne Hathaway, "Anne, you were really good, and this was the last time I talked to you." That really did pull her through to the end of the shoot.
Chroniques DuVasteMonde: And you have attracted them with just such certainty.
Patricia Field: As the ruler of a fashion empire and a tough, successful businesswoman, I chose very high-quality clothing for her. Designer jacket, white blouse, pinstripe skirt, sometimes an extravagant coat, costumes by Chanel, Valentino or, yes, also Prada- "that's all".
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: How important is fashion for women in positions of power?
Patricia Field: What a woman thinks, says and does is more important than what she wears. A woman could wear the fanciest business costume - if she does not fill it in internally, it has no effect.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: You think you can make a career in flip-flops, t-shirts or fashions?
Patricia Field: I'm convinced. If you are convinced of it, then you can walk into the office in the simplest outfits and still do not lose the respect of the environment. Charisma thing.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Sounds like fashion is secondary.
Patricia Field: Fashion is an important status symbol, but you can not buy style. Some people spend thousands of dollars on the finest clothes, attract them - and look bland. Style comes from the inside. Clearly an artist needs color for his work. But it is only by painting them on the canvas that art is created. Only the personal decision turns fashion into style.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: How confident are women there today?
Patricia Field: At last, they seemed rather regressive to me. Everywhere I saw seasoned women in cute babydoll dresses-delicate, innocent, ignorant. Little girls who were no girls anymore.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Rather fashion victims.
Patricia Field: Yes, this is the right word. But fortunately, this retro trend has slowly survived. Most time for trendsetters to come up with something new.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: So also for you ...
Patricia Field: I do not feel like a trendsetter. Maybe I'm one anyway. But then it's only me because I do what I feel. My heart and head tell me what to do. So I just listen to them. Only then can something original arise. Instead of watching a supposed trend series on TV, people should rather look into themselves. You do not find your style in magazines, you find your style in yourself.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: But you yourself have become a media star through your unusual creations in the series "Sex and the City".
Patricia Field: Because I added a few ingredients to the common porridge on the streets. Fashion is globalized today. In fact, everyone is attracted to the same thing. Even billionaires like Bill Gates are wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Sure, the jeans cost 80 times, sometimes 500 dollars, but she remains a pair of jeans. Designers make masses of the same garments. To make this Jedermann-look more personal, to give it atmosphere, that can become less and less in times of oversupply. That's why stylists are so in demand.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: After "Sex and the City", many suddenly wanted to look like main character Carrie Bradshaw. They affect the taste of millions of women.
Patricia Field: This power is not mine, the power lies with the women. I only help women to discover themselves. Regrettably, they have not spent much too much time thinking about what they really want. No wonder, they have been brainwashed for decades and kept small, even fashionable. Today, they do things they never thought would be possible. Keep it up. Nobody can stop you except yourself!
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: You are 62 and unstoppable. Has not it become more difficult for you to stay fashionable in style?
Patricia Field: Much easier.The older you are, the more freedom you have to absorb and express what you want without external pressure. Today I am no other than twenty, thirty years ago. What interests and looks good, I wear.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: But the world around you has changed quite a bit. More freedom, more opportunities ...
Patricia Field: Do we really have them? I find the company more repressive than 20 years ago. The individual is under constant control. People dress much more uniformly, more conservatively, and if they just dress like that? Politically correct, if I already hear that ... I am not. Today everything is regulated and limited. Everyone talks you into raising your kids, even in your own apartment you need a smoke detector. And elsewhere smoking is forbidden anyway.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: Do you want to break these restrictions with your often shrill, "incorrect" compiled outfits?
Patricia Field: I'm not a provocateur. Unless provoking means getting people to use their heads. I like to provoke that. But I have no fire-red hair to provoke, but because I like it.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: In the movie, it once goes something like this: If Miranda aka "Vogue" boss Anna Wintour was a man, nobody would question her performance.
Patricia Field: If a woman is strong, she is a witch. If a man is strong, he is fantastic. But should we be weak for that? I do not think so. And I hope that many more women will think so in the future. Anna Wintour, Meryl Streep and I want to leave at some point.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: So when are you going to say, "That's all. That's all, dear fashion world!"
Patricia Field: When I'm dead.
To person
Patricia Field, 62, is at least since "Sex and the City" one of the most influential stylists. For the equipment of the series, she won a 2003 Grammy. She does not know style breaks, mixes designer pieces with vintage fashion or flashy accessories. In her New York boutique, 302 Bowery Street, she also sells her own label. "The Devil Wears Prada" will be released on October 12th.
A review of the film "The Devil Wears Prada" can be read here.
