How To Be Happy, By Patricia Field

I write this not from my tiny apartment, or even next door cafe with the great coffee and Brit pop soundtrack, but from a - gulp - internet cafe. My laptop is on the brink of breakdown and is currently being stripped and inspected like a drugs mule at Heathrow, by two men with goaties who use words such as, 'motherboard', 'boot disc' and 'dual core.'  Until they ring with good news, I'm slumming it with the backpackers (reason #1 not to love freelance writing; if your computer is screwed, so are you).

Anyway, back to the blog and from Sex and the City dating we slip to Sex and the City style. Last night I went to the CLIO Awards, which honour 'creative advertising in package design, print, radio and television, at the American Museum of Natural History. There, I met Patricia Field, the woman responsible for the best-dressed characters on television. From Charlotte's Stepford Wives-esque wardrobe and Miranda's office chic, to Samantha's block brights and Carrie's fabulous, enviable, and downright bonkers attire, Patricia Field styled all of it. Along with The Devil Wears Prada and Ugly Betty. 

With a voice raspy of a thousand cigarettes and late nights, and a full-on New York twang, Patricia - or simply 'Pat' as Sarah Jessica calls her (the two still speak, "Here and there, but not on a regular basis") is as cool and quirky as you'd expect. I simply had to ask for fashion advice, as a British girl Faking it in America. "Dress like a New Yorker? Why should you," she exclaimed. "Those kids in London do pretty good. What makes New York really New York is that mix. The mix of personal, sensible and outrageous. New York and London are very close in their way of dressing."

And is life better after 50? (Patricia is 72) "My life gets better every day. Every decade is better than the last. What makes me happy? My friend's and their beautiful smiles, brilliant thoughts and my two dogs. And real estate. I buy clothes for other people, real estate for myself."

And with that, the most stylish woman in New York was off.

This morning I stopped by her store on Bowery (http://www.patriciafield.com/). Amongst the silver sequinned mini-dresses, vintage jumpsuits, logo-ed caps and bright bomber jackets, there stood Pat herself. She instantly remembered me and shook my hand before scolding the shop assistant about not getting the shop's air conditioning fixed. Only in New York.