Sarah Jessica Parker with Patricia Field on the set of Sex and the City
Stylists typically fly under the radar, dressing their clients or costuming actresses on set and remaining virtually unknown to the mass public. Which is why when Patricia Field made a name for herself for styling HBO's Sex and the City from 1998 to 2004 and then again for the two follow-up movies, it was a shocker. But not as shocking as the clothes she chose for the show's leading lady, Carrie Bradshaw. But in those sometime cringe-worthy outfits there lies a touch of genius. Field's brilliance as a costume designer was in her ability to fold personality into the outfits each character wore such that the clothes told a story all their own. If you watched SATC focusing only on the clothes, much like the actual plot of the show, you would see Carrie transition from a still insecure woman who sometimes made very bad choices to a confident and poised woman capable of pulling off even the most elaborate of couture gowns. But Field did more than simply dress the show's stars; she injected high fashion into television for the first time. Because of Field, names like Manolo Blahnik, Prada and Oscar de la Renta entered the vocabulary and wish lists of women across America, even those who lived far away from the shops of New York City's Fifth Avenue and never had an occasion to don a 5-in. heel.