'Emily in Paris' costume designer shares the inspiration behind her favorite Season 4 looks
Season 4 marks a transitional period for Emily. "It's the revenge season regarding style," Marylin Fitoussi said.
There’s never a dull fashion moment on Netflix’s Emily in Paris.
Press play on any given episode and you’re immediately drawn into the bold, colorful and sometimes eccentric outfits that titular protagonist Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) and other characters wear as they strut down the cobblestone streets of Paris — whether it be for a fancy soiree, a late night rendezvous or the workplace.
The mastermind behind the eye-catching wardrobe, a main draw for the show, is lead costume designer Marylin Fitoussi, who has played a vital role in creating Emily in Paris’s visual stylebook since Season 1. (Patricia Field, best known for Sex and the City, also worked on the first two seasons.)
Now in Season 4, Emily in Paris’s fashion transformation has mirrored the ups and downs of Emily’s professional and romantic adventures and mishaps — though initial sources of inspiration, such as Audrey Hepburn, remain the backbone of her style identity.
As Emily integrates herself more into French culture, gains confidence and finds her footing within her found family, her outfits have evolved in unique and surprising ways.
With Emily heading to Rome in Part 2, there’s even more freedom to play.
“I’m starting always with scripts,” the France-based Fitoussi told Yahoo Entertainment. A “look library” is the next step in the process, where she curates around 10 outfits each for the office, dating and other crucial milestones in Emily’s life. Then she and Collins work together to “decide which emotion she wants to give to the scene, what will be the state of mind and what [does she] want to say with the clothes.”
“We try to find the perfect outfit that will help her tell the storyline and express [the right] emotion,” Fitoussi explained. “We have our own opinions. We imagine the scenes, we imagine [Emily’s] evolution and what the best way is to express what she’s feeling. [Lily] knows that her character will evolve and she knows exactly what kind of evolution she wants to show to the audience.”
Season 4 marks a transitional period for Emily — she’s in a new relationship and doing well at work — which is reflected in more daring looks. “It’s the revenge season regarding style,” Fitoussi said.
“There are interesting silhouettes that she’s wearing, but always with this unapologetic Emily Cooper touch,” she observed, noting that the American transplant will always “have her own vision of the French style because she knows the rules but she breaks them in her own way.”
Fitoussi broke down four of her favorite looks from Season 4 and the inspiration behind them.
1. The wow factor
“Since Season 1, I wanted to do a masquerade ball because it’s [been] a French tradition since the 18th century. I wanted to mix French tradition with American tradition,” Fitoussi said. She finally gets her chance when Emily attends an extravagant black-and-white ball in the third episode of Season 4, which marks a turning point in that she makes a decision about her romantic life.
While the ball’s black-and-white palette was inspired by Truman Capote, the color scheme also serves another purpose. It represents Emily’s internal conflict and crystallizes her ongoing battle between two worthy love interests, Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) and Alfie (Lucien Laviscount). At the ball, she picks Gabriel and effectively ends things with Alfie.
Collins’s striped Nina Ricci jumpsuit has echoes of the floor-length white gown in My Fair Lady, and her look is capped off by a dramatic train, '50s-inspired curls, a dark lip, lace eye mask and matching wide-brimmed hat.
“Maybe some people will see Beetlejuice,” Fitoussi said with a laugh. “It was not the idea but Lily has a very great sense of humor.”
2. Office chic
As Emily becomes more comfortable in her abilities in the workplace, her office wardrobe begins to mirror her inner confidence — as well as continuing to marry American and European styles to more dramatic effect. One of Fitoussi’s top picks of Season 4, the Clueless-esque outfit is a throwback to the past with a modern touch.
“I really love this look because it’s a little bit period with very nice details,” Fitoussi said of the look consisting of pieces by Giuseppe di Morabito and Etro. “The yellow is beautiful on her and it’s one of my favorite outfits.” Should Emily in Paris return for Season 5, the costumer revealed that this particular look is one she hopes to develop and evolve as Emily enters new phases in her life.
3. A Roman holiday
Frustrated with where her life is in Paris, Emily heads to Rome in Part 2 for a change of scenery and to help acquire new business for her boss, Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu). Things get complicated — as they usually do in Emily’s world — as the “new business” turns out to be Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini), a handsome Italian who quickly catches her eye. Temporarily moving Emily to Italy allowed Fitoussi the opportunity to create a whole new lookbook for Collins’s character, who is going through an existential crisis when she sets foot in Rome.
In one of Emily and Marcello’s early outings on his scooter, she wears a multicolored polka-dot Vivienne Westwood dress and petticoat. Fitoussi wanted to differentiate Emily’s fashion color in Rome versus her usual go-tos in Paris to depict a change in mood and perspective.
“It was an envisioned image that I had in my mind of Gina Lollobrigida or Sophia Loren, this idea of the Italian woman,” she said. The petticoat is “fluffy in the air” when Emily is on Marcello’s scooter, symbolic of the temporary weight off her shoulders. “It was a modern version of Roman Holiday with the ’50s glasses. It’s our version [of the movie].”
4. Butterfly effect
One of Emily’s most unique outfits of the season is one of her most casual ensembles. It stands out because of the fire-engine-red butterfly backpack, which was custom-made by a German designer for the show.
“It’s [shaped like] a butterfly because when she’s arriving in Rome, she decided to go for love and not for work, for once in her life,” Fitoussi said. “When you are in love, it gives you wings. You have butterflies in your stomach. That’s why we chose to have this butterfly backpack. And butterflies represent complete freedom.”
The white polka dots on the blue off-the-shoulder top also symbolize the possibilities of what lies ahead for Emily. “She’s bubbling [underneath], like champagne,” Fitoussi said. “I wanted to have this feeling of sparkling without doing anything. She’s here in a very casual way with the scarf [in her hair] blowing and floating in the air.”
Emily in Paris Season 4 Part 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
