Field was born in 1941 in New York City to a Greek father and an Armenian mother, who emigrated from Plomari, Lesbos, Greece. She was raised in Astoria, Queens and has claimed credit for inventing the modern legging for women's fashion in the 1970s. She is the owner of the eponymous boutique Patricia Field.

Field met Sarah Jessica Parker during the filming of 1995's Miami Rhapsody. The actress became so enchanted with Field's collections that they became friends and continued working with her on the series Sex and the City. Before beginning the first season of the Sex and the City television series on HBO, Parker asked to have Field design some of the clothes that her character, Carrie Bradshaw, would wear. During Field's tenure as costume designer on Sex and the City, the show became famous for the fashions showcased.

For her work on Sex and the City, Field was nominated for five Emmy Awards, with one win, and nominated for six Costume Designers Guild awards, with four wins. She is one out of six Honorees of the 2008 Reel Time Film Festival. She went on to return as Costume Designer for Sex and the City: the Movie (2008) and the sequel Sex and the City 2 (2010). She worked in the Asian market by creating the fashion behind the Chinese feature film "杜拉拉升职记" (Go Lala Go) (2010). Her most recent project is Taiwanese television series, The Material Queen. Field's television credits include Hope & Faith and Ugly Betty. She served as costume designer for the feature film The Devil Wears Prada, for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, although in an extensive interview included as a bonus feature on the film's DVD release, she admits she dressed the cast by gathering garments from other designers' ready-to-wear collections rather than creating them herself.

World Liberty TV was on hand at the Helen Yarmark’s PH at The Iconic Crown Building NY where Ms. Field was doing the styling for The Helen Yarmak line.