“‘Emily in Paris’ allows me to experiment with its irreverent, creative side, where I say, ‘Break the convention, be yourself, and feel different, unique, and affirm it.’”
To make a fantasy come to life in film and television, industry creatives don’t just rely on a great script and spectacular set designs complemented by special lighting and a moving musical score. Completing the formula is a good set of costumes.
Costumes have an essential role in the storytelling process. They provide distinction among the ensemble. They give visual notes of the character's personality. And, much like a stunning piece of jewelry, they are the perfect finishing touches that complete a fantasy. We see how garments continue to add flavor to our viewing pleasures until today, One example of this is Netflix’s newest installment of the series “Emily in Paris.”
In the past two seasons of the show, we’ve been following Emily Cooper (played by Lily Collins), an American marketing executive brought to Paris to work in its luxury scene. While she always finds it hard to talk to her colleague in French, when it comes to her style, nothing is lost in translation with the audience, well, most of the time.
Her bold sense of style continues in the show’s latest season, serving more color, patterns, and textures one can think of. With such a maximalist character when it comes to fashion, costume designer Marylin Fitoussi admits that the hardest part of her job is to not repeat anything and to continue breaking style conventions. Before, Marylin worked with “Sex and the City” costume designer and stylist Patricia Field. For the third season, she is the primary captain of the costume department. After streaming the entire season in one day, it looks like Marylin did great with her curated looks for the show that are beyond ringarde.
“We must always propose new things, to push the limits of what we can do,” the costume designer said in a video released by Netflix. “Mixing vintage items with contemporary ones and being able to give it this Paris tone, this Parisian touch, but still with this little side of the irreverent from Emily Cooper from Chicago.”
One of the statement-making looks from “Emily in Paris” season three is Emily’s pink look. Magda Butrym’s cutout petal-printed dress is styled with a pair of mint platform pumps from Casadei. What makes it Emily is the cape that goes with it. Marylin designed the matching feathered cape that speaks to the protagonist’s current indecisive state.
“For me, it was a way to say goodbye to the color pink on Emily with the fall. It was like, ‘Ok, bye bye birdie’ and ‘Bye bye pink color,’” she said in a story by Today.
Another creative step she did when it comes to dressing Emily is to take style notes from the people that surround her. Emily loves Paris so much that her looks are slowly being infused with the French way of dressing courtesy of her colleagues and friends.
"I wanted to make a game—a mirror between Emily and Sylvie. said, ‘OK, it's a great idea.’ So, I said, ‘OK, Sylvie will take a touch of color from Emily. Because you have love and respect, and you both know that the other one has a great style,’” Marylin told InStyle. “For example, Emily is wearing high-waisted trousers, which are typical Sylvie. So, we were playing this mirror game between the two characters, which was fun to do—to make Emily more Parisian with some very precise details but to keep her very colorful style.”
If you’re done watching the series, bold style isn’t just apparent in Emily’s wardrobe. We see her best friend Mindy Chen shine like the star that she is with her skin-baring and always-out-of-the-box looks both on the street and onstage. Camille, with her eye for unconventional beauty in the arts, gives reimaginations of French dressing attitudes.
“It’s a bit of a calling, telling stories with clothes and making everyone feel beautiful,” Marylin said. “‘Emily in Paris’ allows me to experiment with its irreverent, creative side, where I say, ‘Break the convention, be yourself, and feel different, unique, and affirm it.’”
We may get tired of the cliché romantic dramas, Emily pitching her ideas, or watching Slyvie’s team roll their eyes at Emily’s American-ness, but we can always expect good storytelling through the show’s costumes—no matter how unrealistic they are sometimes.
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