“It is my nature to discover,” says fashion icon Patricia Field. “I love markets and independent shops; they provide a more personalized selection.” The costume designer, known for film and television projects in which fashion plays a leading role, including The Devil Wears Prada, has spent her six-decade career shopping and styling on the road.
Her work has ensured it: For Sex and the City II, she spent weeks in the Middle East, traveling between Morocco, Türkiye, and Abu Dhabi. The five seasons of Emily in Paris meant countless trips to the French capital, where she always made time for the excellent vintage stores. Gigs in Japan 30 years ago helped ignite an enduring devotion to local cosmetics—and inspired the look of her Lower East Side home. Influenced by Tokyo’s Grand Hyatt, her apartment includes a shower-free bathroom with a deep soaking tub, TVs throughout, and an open-space living room with a knockout view, which here means across the East River to Brooklyn and Queens (the mirror curtains in her living room were sent over from Fendi’s New York showroom).
Though her work has kept her moving, the New York native has long considered Greece, the country from which her mother’s family emigrated to Manhattan, like a second home. While there, she spends the majority of her time in Athens, with visits to islands like Paros and Mykonos. Throughout it all, Field’s exceptional eye has helped her select one-of-a-kind pieces, which have turned her home into a treasure chest reflective of a life well-traveled. Here, some of the best items she’s acquired from around the world.
Frank Frances
Rare lipstick from Japan
This brush-on Shiseido Beni Kabuki lipstick is sold only in Japan and comes in just one shade of rouge. Field stocks up on every visit or otherwise has friends bring it back for her.