LONDON — Princess Diana paved the way for revenge dressing in 1994 — now 30 years later, Lily Collins as Emily Cooper in “Emily in Paris” is following the same path.
Costume designer Marylin Fitoussi is calling season four of the Netflix series the revenge-style season.
Emily is stepping into new territories this season — part one airs Thursday — with salutes to fashion’s greatest: Twiggy, Biba, the Swinging ’60s, Audrey Hepburn, Françoise Hardy, Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball and more.
Fitoussi has been begging the show’s creator Darren Star to put on a ball since season one as “it’s very much part of the French DNA,” she said in an interview, wearing a vintage Saint Laurent chiffon shirt printed with red lips and a black head-wrap. (It’s hard to tell if she’s channeling Elsa Schiaparelli or a clairvoyant with a taste for the finer things in life.)
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When a masquerade ball was mentioned in the script, she quickly jumped to suggest Capote’s famous ball from 1966 that took place at The Plaza hotel in New York City as a reference.
The costume designer contacted Nina Ricci’s British American creative director Harris Reed for the occasion. He designed three outfits and Fitoussi together with Collins decided on a thick striped black and white jumpsuit with an attachable ball skirt that also paid tribute to Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady.”
The English American actor has a resemblance to Hepburn with her small features and distinct dark eyebrows.
When Emily goes skiing in one of the episodes, Fitoussi had the idea to recreate Hepburn’s famous winter look in the 1963 film “Charade,” where she’s wrapped up in fur with a pair of oversize Pierre Marly sunglasses, which are now on display at the Musée de la Lunette in Morez, France.
The costume designer was able to obtain the original sunglasses worn by Hepburn.
“When Lily tried them on, we were crying, shouting and having goosebumps. Every season we have a tribute to Audrey Hepburn, it’s part of the game now,” said Fitoussi, adding that Pierre Marly Opticien reproduced the sunglasses for the series and that she used faux fur for the scene.
As Emily steps into more of a French sartorial state of mind in season four, that’s not to say she’s parting ways with her bright and printclashing wardrobe — those pieces are very much still there, and she’s wearing them to the office rather than on the cobbled streets of Paris.
“Emily is much more elevated, but she’s still unapologetic and a fish out of water. She’s showing the [true hidden gems] in her closet now,” said Fitoussi, revealing that her closet this season includes Philosophy Di Lorenzo Serafini, Jacquemus, Marni, Ozias, Miu Miu, La DoubleJ, Boss and more.
Emily’s best friend in Paris, Mindy Chen, played by Ashley Park, has taken not just a page out of her friend’s sartorial library, but perhaps an entire volume.
She wears an eccentric selection of pieces: a graffitied Philipp Plein miniskirt and cropped blazer embellished with diamantes styled with pink sailor hats; a turquoise Magda Butrym jumpsuit printed with pink roses worn with a matching fluffy hat; a vintage Thierry Mugler cobalt blue dress from 1996 accessorized with an Andrew Gn belt made of an assortment of blue stones, and a mini Germanier hobo bag decorated in sequins and beads in different shades of blue and more.
“Fashion is here to be enjoyed and fashion is fun. [Park] has the most beautiful legs that I’ve ever seen and she’s so confident, that you can dress her in sequins and choking items at 10 a.m. She doesn’t question anything [we put on her],” Fitoussi explained.
The only time she’s ever gotten pushback is when she put Park in a plain white T-shirt for a music rehearsal scene.
Park told Fitoussi that she “’didn’t wake up to wear a plain T-shirt. I want something with treasures,’” she recalled.
As Emily’s sense of style matures, her counterparts are also tapping into new sides of their characters.
According to Fitoussi, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu’s sharp and witty character, Sylvie, discovers a secret style to herself in part two of the series, which airs on Sept. 12.
In Paris, her style speaks more to brands such as Saint Laurent, Charlotte Chesnais and Tod’s, but in Rome, even Sylvie gets flamboyant by dabbling in Emilio Pucci and Gucci.
Fitoussi feels strongly about Leroy-Beaulieu and her on screen character. “A dress is nothing without the woman who is living in it. Beautiful clothes can stay as beautiful clothes if you have the energy, the power and the sexiness to wear it. She owns the clothes she wears,” she said.
She shares that Leroy-Beaulieu often arrives at fittings on a bicycle with a helmet in hand wearing a white T-shirt from the French brand Majestic Filatures, but within five minutes she’s in stiletto heels “walking like a goddess. She blows my mind by how easily she can switch from a character to another one.”
Fitoussi is as involved in the main character’s wardrobes as she is with those in a supporting role.
This season all of the tailored outfits for Samuel Arnold’s coworker role as Julian were by Walter Van Beirendonck. The Belgian fashion designer loaned out many pieces from his own personal archive for the series.
Even the actor Bruno Gouery, who plays the role of Luc, the quirky office coworker, has started getting interested in what his character wears, whereas before he was indifferent to fashion, Fitoussi said.
The cravat has become Luc’s signature accessory to go with his softly textured officewear and three piece suits.
“He even asks for [style] advice for his own personal life now,” Fitoussi said.
The costume designer admits that dressing Lucas Bravo’s chef character Gabriel is a bit trickier because “he’s so beautiful, but we need him to stay as the guy next door.”
She said she fears dressing him in designer pieces will just make him look like a model, so instead she puts him in French brands that are focused on minimalism and sustainability.
Fitoussi is not short of fashion on the show. She wants to use her platform to represent designers from every corner of the world.
This season she’s sourced from Korean designer Christopher Raxxy; Vietnamese brand Sixdo; Indian designers Manish Arora and Gaurav Gupta; Moldovan designer Fidan Novruzova and more.
“If we get a season five, I want an even larger circle of designers. I’m still missing designers from Mexico, Chile and Peru. It’s a privilege to give these young designers a place for their work because it triggers their careers,” Fitoussi said.
Born in the South of France, the costume designer knew the profession she wanted to go into from the age of 12, when her family got their first television.
“Every New Year’s Eve, the French channels would televise a show from the Moulin Rouge with these beautiful creatures almost naked with sequins, feathers, giant earrings and jewels. I said, ‘I want to live in this world, not here, but there where those creatures belong,’” Fitoussi remembers.
