The costume design process for Season 3 of "Emily in Paris" began with a bang.
Or, more precisely, with bangs.
Swati Bhat
Image: Netflix
Lily Collins, who plays the title character in the Netflix dramedy, first experimented with fringe in her hair before it appeared on the show. Season 3 begins with Emily feeling manic and grabbing a pair of scissors, an ordeal that costume designer Marilyn Fitoussi found inspiring after the dilemmas created by the Season 2 finale.
“Everything starts with Lily’s bangs. She sent me a picture, and suddenly, it reminded me of French icons of the ’60s,” Fitoussi says. “New wave movies. You have Jean-Luc Godard, you have Brigitte Bardot, you have Jane Birkin — all these delicate, graceful silhouettes.” I said, ‘Jesus, she looks like Françoise Hardy!’ So the ’60s is the starting point for the design. We’re playing a Parisian game; it’s time for her to embrace the French culture.”
Fitoussi also noted the character development mirrored in Season 3's costumes: "Emily starts dressing a little like Sylvie [her boss, played by Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu]. I played a mirror game with them. They have a love-hate relationship, so Sylvie is wearing more colour and Emily is wearing high-waisted and wide trousers that she didn't have before."
Fitoussi was able to pay tribute to a real-life fashion designer: Stéphane Rolland, who has offered his work to "Emily in Paris" since Season 1 and is the inspiration for Pierre's designs throughout the show, with all of the looks at the event honouring Pierre Cadault (Jean-Christophe Bouvet) in Episode 2. Many of the outfits in this scene are Rolland pieces from various stages of his career, and Rolland himself appears in a cameo.
Emily, on the other hand, wears a Dolce & Gabbana jacket with dramatic zebra-patterned wings. “I noticed this piece when I went to Milan, to a runway show. I was thinking of this jacket for Mindy [Ashley Park] at the beginning,” Fitoussi says. “But when I received the script and saw the tribute to Pierre Cadult, and of course Stéphane Rolland, I decided to use it for Emily.”
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