There is a great new film documentary released for home viewing called Happy Clothes. It is a wonderful documentary about the esteemed and very interesting fashion designer Patricia Field. Our City Tonight had the opportunity to talk with the film’s director Michael Selditch, who is a two-time Emmy nominated writer, director, and producer.

OCT: Michael, this was truly an awesome film and we’re very excited to chat with you to find out more about this film and your interesting career. First, let’s talk about the film which we loved and how you became involved with this project in the first place.

MS: Thank you, and I love that you love it. I was directing and producing a documentary series a couple years back for CNN called American Style. It was chronicling the style in America from the 1940s until present day. I interviewed a lot of people and one of them was Pat Field. She was amazing and very funny in the interview. When she left the interview, I remember turning to the crew saying, somebody needs to make a documentary on this woman.  

I decided to take on this project and got all excited about approaching her, thinking she’d be excited as well. She turned me down saying that lots of people have come to her over the years and she doesn’t like to be put on a pedestal. She said it made her uncomfortable. She just flat out said no. That was in 2019 in December, and we all know what happened very shortly after that. 

Two years went by and in the summer of 2021, I was still thinking a lot about the project, so I approached her again and I said to her, anybody can make a documentary on you, you are a public figure. I told her that I’m not interested in doing the traditional documentary, like Patricia Field was born on this day at this time. What I wanted to do was show her work, I wanted to see her process. I wanted to follow her, to see her shop, to get inside her head. I wanted to see a fitting with actors to see how she gets to where she gets to. And I said that if she didn’t do it now (she was turning 80 at that time), when will she ever do it. She said okay.

OCT: What an amazing woman, and you obviously convinced her and she obviously liked you because you can see throughout the whole film that this lady does not do what she doesn’t want to do. And you do see little moments of her tenacity and maybe her mood coming through in the film. That must’ve been interesting to work with her. How did you manage?

MS: It was interesting to work with her, but I want to point out that the reason it’s in there is because the whole time I was filming, I heard her voice in my head saying I don’t want to be put on a pedestal. I wanted to include that side of her that some might find a little abrasive or brash but she says things in such a way that always has this undertone of love, and she clearly speaks her mind. 

All of that is very important because that is not just who she is as a person, but as a designer and as a creative person. She goes with her gut, and she doesn’t care what people think unless she’s collaborating with them and she is a good collaborator. She doesn’t look back, she’s always looking forward, if there’s a moment that seems tense she just keeps going. It was never really an issue. 

There were times when I had to kind of twist her arm to do something that I had in my head, and she would ultimately understand what I was talking about. It’s funny, when the film opened in New York and we were doing a Q&A at a theatre and she was talking about the opening scene with her swimming and she said to me “At the time,I didn’t understand why you wanted to do that.” And then she said, “and that’s why I do what I do, and you do what you do”.

OCT: We wanted to say you definitely captured the fierce side of her and we would certainly encourage everyone to watch this film even if it is to just to see the array of people that she supported right from the beginning. And you’re right, there was a mean streak, but I think that was all done with love, like some of the employees being fired 13 times and then always brought back to the family. 

We want to ask you about your career and how you did such a career pivot? You have a master’s degree in architecture, but you said you were disgruntled with the profession. Can you tell us how you pivoted to many years of great success in the film business.

MS: I was an architect for 14 years. I not only have a master’s degree but I’m a licensed architect and I practiced. I love architecture, but the profession of architecture can be a bit difficult as a lot of architects will tell you. It’s hard to make a lot of money and it’s hard to express your creativity when people don’t trust an architect until they’re 50 or 60 years old. 

I did pivot, I started with production design because I didn’t want to go back to school. I already had a master’s degree and I was in debt. I thought, how many master’s degrees do I need? I just started doing it and I was really lucky because I met great people and I really networked like crazy. I found opportunities to do things along the way and just built my career up. Luckily it all worked out and I’ve really enjoyed the last 25 years that I’ve been in this business.

OCT: And that’s certainly evident in your most current project. Happy Clothes, a film about Patricia Field is out now on VOD. For the full interview go to richmondsentinel.ca/videos