When Emily Cooper, the titular character in the Netflix show “Emily in Paris,” burst onto the scene, her bold personality, heavily accented French and wardrobe of colorful prints were met with jeers and sneers onscreen and off.
Despite Emily’s icy reception, the character (played by Lily Collins) wormed her way into the hearts of both audiences at home and her French peers on the show, now in its fifth season, which premiered on Thursday. Days before the release of the new season, Darren Star, the creator of “Emily in Paris” (and also of “Sex and the City” and “Beverly Hills, 90210”) received the Legion of Honor, France’s highest award.
President Emmanuel Macron of France, whose wife, Brigitte, appeared briefly in the fourth season of “Emily in Paris,” said at the ceremony that Mr. Star makes “France shine across the world.” His remarks alluded to how Emily and her over-the-top style — an amalgamation of florals, plaid, houndstooth, feathers and zebra print — have become inextricably linked to Paris, even if her wardrobe is not exactly emblematic of what people who live there wear.
While the series has taken place in Paris, a city widely regarded as the world’s fashion capital, and though Emily engages with real luxury brands in her job at a fictional marketing firm, the show’s wardrobes were never meant to be realistic, said Marylin Fitoussi, the costume designer for “Emily in Paris.”
“It was not the point,” she said. “And it’s still not my point. I want to play with clothes. I want to show people that if you are dressed in a different way, you will think in a different way.”
Ms. Fitoussi’s work was recently recognized by another influential French entity: Assouline, the Parisian publisher of glossy books, which this month released “Emily in Paris: The Fashion Guide.” Marketed as a manifesto on fearless dressing, the book offers a behind-the-scenes look at Ms. Fitoussi’s process and how the clothing choices of the characters help drive the show’s narrative.
In the fifth season, Emily relocates to Rome to head the Italian office of her marketing firm. The change in location — coupled with a new bob hairstyle for Emily (and Ms. Collins) — inspired Ms. Fitoussi to give the character “a much more modern, sexy, powerful” wardrobe compared with the “romantic, wavy, girly” clothes that Emily wore earlier in the series, she said.
To outfit the “Emily in Paris” characters over the years, Ms. Fitoussi has sourced attire from luxury brands such as Vivienne Westwood, Balmain and Valentino, as well as from emerging designers, including Kate Barton and Grace Ling. She has also procured pieces from vintage stores and resale platforms.
For the new season, the show teamed up with Fendi to create handbags featured in episodes, which are also available for purchase. It was something of a full circle moment for Ms. Fitoussi, whose wardrobes for earlier seasons of “Emily in Paris” were developed in consultation with Patricia Field, the costume designer of “Sex and the City.”
Ms. Fitoussi sees Emily as a spiritual younger sister to Carrie Bradshaw, she said, whose affinity for Fendi bags is well-documented — and whose style, while sometimes kooky, was rarely forgettable.
“What I’m selling is a dream,” Ms. Fitoussi said. “It’s fuel for imagination.”
Chatting With … a Pioneer in Fashion and Technology
These days, livestream runway shows, 360-degree cameras on red carpets and wearable devices are now standard in the fashion industry. And for that, Nick Knight is partly to thank.
Mr. Knight, 67, the founder of SHOWstudio in London, has long been seen as a pioneer in bridging fashion and technology. An early adopter of livestreams and 3-D image making, Mr. Knight, through photography, film and other projects, has spent much of his career pushing convention. That has extended to the way he has candidly shared his expertise in fashion, an industry known to be cutthroat, in videos for SHOWstudio, a website Mr. Knight introduced in 2000, well before daily life moved online.
On the occasion of SHOWstudio’s 25th anniversary, Mr. Knight, in an interview that was edited and condensed, discussed how he is embracing new technologies like artificial intelligence and why artists need to evolve consistently.
How did the fashion community initially respond to your openness to technology?
There was a bit of pushback. I think I realized why: A lot of photographers had invested a great deal of money into buying professional equipment, which is normal. But life changes. When somebody can pick up a phone and take a picture, it suggests, “Why do I need to go to a photographer when I can do it myself?” You can’t hold back progress just because it isn’t what it traditionally was.
Films have been part of SHOWstudio since the very beginning. Why?
Basically, all the way through the 20th century, photography was the main way of creatively presenting what designers did. It occurred to me, around 1992, that fashion is always created to be seen in movement. Every designer who creates a garment expects it to be seen in motion. A fashion photograph, however good that photograph is, is still a compromise of the designer’s original vision. Seeing a garment move is probably the best way to understand what that designer wanted to say.
Generative A.I. has become a flashpoint in fashion, particularly around authorship and craft. Are you using it?
I use it in lots of different ways. One example is pointing a camera at a scene and not receiving a photograph, but a poem, by taking the A.I. description of what’s in front of me and feeding it into another A.I., asking it to make a song. It’s a way of crossing from one art form to another.
I think people misunderstand how A.I. is used and assume you simply type in a line, like “pretty girl in a flowery dress,” and accept the result. Apply that logic to my photography. I don’t just walk into a studio and finish in one click. I’ll spend hours or days trying to get an image I like.
Yola Mzizi is a reporter for the Styles section and a member of the 2025-2026 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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