‘Emily in Paris’ Season 2: Seems to be to Watch For
After “Emily in Paris” arrived on Netflix final fall, the sequence — a few younger American advertising wiz stumbling by life in a brand new metropolis — was derided for portraying a fantasy model of French tradition. Parisians bristled at the show’s inaccuracies and clichés, from folks smoking within the workplace to the variety of berets onscreen.
“It’s the sequence that French folks like to hate,” stated Marylin Fitoussi, the present’s costume designer.
Nonetheless, the present supplied a welcome escape for these caught at dwelling. It was a heat tub for weary souls; a foolish, romantic, candy-colored romp by a lovely metropolis untouched by the pandemic. The garments performed a component in that.
Ms. Fitoussi had initially tried for realism with sure outfits. For Mindy (Ashley Park), an heiress moonlighting as a nanny and Emily’s first actual buddy in Paris, her intuition was to decorate her in comfy garments and sneakers. However that modified after a dialog with the present’s costume marketing consultant, Patricia Subject, recognized for her fantastical costuming on “Intercourse and the Metropolis.”
“They stated to me the magical sentence: ‘Marylin, we don’t care about actuality,’” stated Ms. Fitoussi, who appeared on a Zoom name carrying a black turban, a gold collared shirt underneath a printed yellow jacket, and an array of huge sculptural rings. “That’s my mojo in life.”
For Season 2, out on Dec. 22, Ms. Fitoussi and Ms. Subject have been decided to push the present’s fashions even additional. Emily (Lily Collins) is navigating a sticky love triangle however settling into life in Paris, and her fashion has change into extra refined, if no much less eye-catching. Even Emily’s imperious boss, Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu), is pushing the boundaries of French work put on, turning up in metallic fits and dramatic fringe.
As these outfits present, extra is all the time extra in Emily’s Paris.
A Daring Print and a Energy Go well with
Emily has developed past a sure Eiffel Tower print from Season 1, however obviousness stays her signature. For a celebration on the Seine selling a heart-shaped jewellery assortment by Chopard, she wears a white Anouki costume lined in crimson hearts. Ms. Subject was not bought on the costume when Ms. Fitoussi purchased it. “To start with, I simply didn’t know the place in hell I might use it, as a result of it simply appears so foolish in a method,” Ms. Subject stated over a video name. “However alongside got here that scene.”
Ms. Fitoussi stated she cherished the puffy sleeves. “Pat hated the sleeves, and I stated, ‘The costume with out the sleeves is nothing. It’s only a tube with some hearts,’” she stated. (The red-and-pink striped jacket Emily wears with the costume needed to be customized made to suit over them.)
Mindy, in the meantime, has joined a band, bringing her vocal skills to the streets of Paris. (Ms. Park has been nominated for both a Tony and a Grammy.) Her efficiency scenes gave the costume workforce an opportunity to go wild with glitter and feathers. Working example: the shimmering inexperienced Zadig & Voltaire go well with she wears to sing on the Chopard soiree, paired with sparkly Roger Vivier pumps.
“We’re so used to having Mindy look very attractive, very female, very outrageous,” Ms. Fitoussi stated. “I stated, ‘Why not a go well with?’”
To offer this look “the Mindy contact,” in Ms. Fitoussi’s phrases, they raised the glamour quotient with a classic rhinestone necklace that streams down her throat.
A New Tackle French Model
Sylvie is the primary to name Emily out on her ignorance of French tradition and her American vanity, reprimanding her for speaking store at events and for treating Paris like her private “amusement park.” However whereas Emily’s boss is in some ways the show’s archetypal Frenchwoman, Ms. Fitoussi had little interest in dressing her as such.
“I understand how to design the proper Frenchwoman,” she stated, rattling off “boring” fundamentals: bluejeans, T-shirt, white sneakers, black or navy jacket, “beige if we’re loopy at this time.”
For Season 2, Ms. Fitoussi dressed Sylvie in a number of fits in shades of vibrant crimson and silver. (The silver one got here to be recognized on set as her “Mick Jagger go well with.”) One eye-catching workplace look features a low-cut gold Saint Laurent button-down, a black Maje skirt with a thigh-high slit, and an Alaïa belt.
“That’s my concept of a enterprise outfit,” Ms. Fitoussi stated. “Black skirt, however as an alternative of a white, black or navy blue, you place gold.”
Designing for a New Character
A number of the most extravagant seems to be of the season belong to a brand new character, a designer named Gregory Elliott Dupree (Jeremy O. Harris). He first seems in Saint-Tropez with a inexperienced and white Casablanca fake fur coat slung over his shoulders and a floppy Patou hat on his head (accessorized with a yellow Dolce & Gabbana flower pin).
“The reality is, when Jeremy O. Harris walked within the door, he was dressed,” Ms. Subject stated. “I’m like, ‘Excellent. I don’t have any work to do.’”
Whereas Ms. Fitoussi has a particular affinity for Gregory — “If I used to be a person, I might look precisely like Gregory Dupree” — she identifies strongly with Emily’s style sensibility. “I’m all the time very colourful, and I combine patterns as a result of I used to be a textile designer,” she stated. “In Paris, folks name me ‘the parrot,’ name me ‘the clown.’”
To her, the purpose is for Emily to retain her daring sensibility, at the same time as she begins to study the language and customs of her new metropolis.
“I don’t need her to seem like an strange French woman,” Ms. Fitoussi stated. “I don’t wish to make a clone of what’s French or what is meant to be French style. If I try this, I fail.”