Emily in Paris: Tea is Served

By Myroc

Lily Collins presses through the streets of Paris in Vivienne Westwood booties as “Emily,” enshrined in the history of downtown New York’s diva of synergy, Patricia Field. The eye to pair the turquoise Chanel jacket dosed atop a Dope Tavio dress is a product of her tradition to combine opposites. With film credits reaching beyond Emily in Paris, beneath Sex in the City, winking at The Devil Wears Prada, then finally nodding knowingly at Paris is Burning before it was born, this master has the ability to artfully merge worlds. Pose and Emily in Paris have more in common than meets the eye.

This cross-cultural phenomenon is the subject of a new docu-series, Love is in the Legend. Explaining through archival footage and fresh interviews to the beat of 1980’s underground club music, the series shows how the Pat Field kids, as they were known, found belonging through fashion, music and dance, and formed the House of Field. Through their bravery and unity, they set their own pace, and others followed. As outsiders they gravitated toward each other and Patricia Field for community and survival, yet were fiercely competitive in their individual statements. AIDS killed a population of ancestors, yet the traditions were handed down by those still here, still serving in the mastery evident in Patricia Field.

Adept at joining uptown and downtown, street fashion and couture, 7th Avenue and Canal street, Patricia Field surprises many who do not know how this icon embraced the Harlem Ball culture and voguing in the 1980’s. As reigning mother and father of her own House, competing and winning trophies at Balls in the Harlem Elk’s Lodge, she reveled in the undeniable beauty and ferocity of the Ball scene in the Red Era of Ballroom that is pre-1990, and beyond. Still outsiders in a new world, but with the drive and hustle of the House Princess Myra, Patricia Field was the first to host a Ball downtown and invite her fashion colleagues to be judges. She wanted to show Seventh Avenue and downtown New York something exciting, “ something new that was fashion.” Although the Harlem Ball and House cultures had been in existence since the 1920s, it would take the gathering of luminary judges like Deborah Harry, Steven Meisel, Willi Ninja, Andre Leon Talley, Dianne Brill, Betsey Johnson, and uptown fashion elites Georgio Di Sant' Angelo and Mary McFadden for a Ball and voguing to become a New York Post Page Six story for the first time ever.

Synced to iconic music, Love is the Legend transports you to September 25, 1988 in an auditorium space on Grand Street, NYC that had seen better days. The House of Patricia Field hosted this event, with competitors from uptown and downtown, of every gender and color. Legends walked, like designer Marc Jacobs, Elizabeth Saltzman, Lisa Marie, David Spada, Lysa Cooper, Veronica Webb, and Maripol, competing against iconic house members and downtown royalty. Downtown distinctives showed up and showed out with creators such as empress and journalist, Chi Chi Valenti, artist Kenny Kenny, trans activist and trailblazer The Connie Girl, and Dali’s muse, the International Chrysis, snatching trophies or opening categories. They met contenders in categories from the House of Xtravaganza like Jose Xtravaganza and Danni Xtravaganza, the House of Magnifique Father Cesar Magnifique, Princess Magnifique, and Frankie Magnifique, and divas like Vanity Legend, Tenay Pendavis, and Mother Avis Pendavis. The series connects these people of the cultural landscapes with roots in the Paradise Garage, the Harlem Ball scene, and the ether surrounding Patricia Field, one story at a time.

all rights reserved, copyright 2020, Myroc Productions

Emily in Paris elegantly and unwittingly stands at a critical point in time for recognizing the bravery of those who paved the way for expression, now threatened by struggles and disrespect for differences. An Emmy-award winning costume designer and consultant for nearly 40 years, Pat is humbled by those who credit her for inspiring them to accept themselves and express their own style. She says that is “the greatest take-away from her whole career;” it makes her truly happy.

The next time you watch Emily in Paris and swoon over the fashion, take a moment to realize how it is closer to the world of Paris is Burning than you think, because of a common denominator in Patricia Field. Watch Emily and someday, Love is in the Legend, and ponder how we all benefit when we step bravely into a new world, doing what we love, finding joy and belonging by uniting through our differences.