Field was born in 1942 in New York City to an Armenian father and a Greek mother, who emigrated from Plomari, Lesbos, Greece.She was raised in Manhattan and 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. They became friends and worked together on the television series Sex and the City. Before the first season of Sex and the City, Parker and Darren Star asked Field to design the costumes for the series. During Field's tenure as costume designer on the series, the show became well known for the fashions.^{[citation needed]}

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 the movie Sex and the City (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).

Field's television credits include Hope & Faith "Kath and Kim" (American version), Ugly Betty, Younger on TV Land, and most recently the revival of Murphy Brown on CBS. She served as costume designer for the feature film The Devil Wears Prada, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design. Most recently, she did the costume design for Second Act starring Jennifer Lopez, Vanessa Hudgens and Leah Remini.

Field, who is openly lesbian, was for many years romantically involved with costume designer Rebecca Weinberg (Field), with whom she partnered on Sex and the City.

Field appeared as the first guest judge during the first season of the Bravo reality television series Project Runway. Her eponymous boutique was featured in a 2007 episode of Kathy Griffin's reality show My Life on the D-List, as well as on a 2008 episode of Paris Hilton's My New BFF. She designed the outfits in Namie Amuro's music videos for her three songs "New Look", "Rock Steady", and "What A Feeling" from her single 60s 70s 80s, as well as Anna Vissi's music videos for Stin Pyra and Alitissa Psihi from her album Apagorevmeno. In 2011, she designed most of the outfits for the characters in a Taiwan drama called Material Queen.^{[citation needed]}

In 2016, Field sold her iconic retail property on the Bowery, after being in business for 50 years, and continues to work in TV and Film. Field is currently the costume consultant on the TV Land series, Younger.

The charities Field supports include COAF (Children's of Armenia Fund) and The Lower Eastside Girls Club. Her support also extends through numerous LGBT organizations.

Among others, Field's influences include, John Galliano, Diane von Furstenberg and Thierry Mugler.

Patricia Field has an ARTFashion Gallery where she focuses on selling art and hand painted original clothing and accessories by a group of hand curated artists. Her gallery is open to the public in the Lower East Side, NYC. Her website www.patriciafield.com has the full collection. (Field)