The broadcast of the second season of "Emily in Paris" has once again sparked a heated discussion about Parisian fashion and real life in Paris.
Like the first season, although word-of-mouth and reviews have once again "gone offline", they have not prevented the series's continued global ratings and received a lot of hot discussion in the fashion industry, and it is obviously appropriate to use "black and red" to describe "Emily in Paris". Unlike other series, Netflix's series, which premiered in October last year, is very clear in terms of positioning - it is a fashion series set in the fashion industry and full of a lot of gorgeous fashion. As a result, it is often compared to Sex and the City a decade ago.
Poster for the second season of Emily in Paris
However, compared with "Sex and the City", the story line of "Emily in Paris" is very simple, which is also its most criticized point. But even so, "Emily in Paris" still relies on a simple story line and a relaxed atmosphere to accurately capture the needs of post-epidemic audiences for entertainment dramas, serious and profound is no longer attractive, and the relaxed and interesting plot that does not need to think more can resonate. As many netizens have said, although they are very annoyed with this drama, they still can't stop watching it.
The first season is mainly about Emily, an American girl played by Lily Collins, who came to Paris to work alone and used Instagram to record what she saw and heard as an "outsider" in the city of Paris, while the second season focused on emily's love life that had adapted to work.
Stills from Emily in Paris
After film and television dramas such as "Sex and the City", "Gossip Girl", "The Witch In Prada" and so on, few dramas have been able to arouse the widespread discussion in the fashion industry like "Emily in Paris". And with the help of social media, the search volume for fashion-related topics triggered by "Emily in Paris" has also recently surged.
"Sex and the City" has a very big impact on the fashion industry, and it is a TV series with a fashion theme background
According to data collected by ShopStyle, ebates' digital shopping platform, searches for costume accessories worn by characters such as Emily Cooper, Mindy Chen, Camille and Julien all increased significantly after the second season of the series aired.
For example, Emily, played by Lily Collins, has seen more than 43 percent increase in searches, while her white and blue striped sweater, plaid blazer and fisherman's hat have all seen a 42 percent increase in searches. Searches for red dresses increased by 41 percent, while searches for knee-length boots increased by 37 percent. In addition, the show also increased Dior's Internet searches by 40%.
The beret is Emily's iconic look
Emily's best friend Mindy grew searches related to sequin suit jackets and red bucket bags by 69 percent and 60 percent, respectively, while queries for leopard print coats, red dresses and black fedora hats increased by 53 percent, 41 percent and 24 percent, respectively. The show's "real" French girl, Camille, saw an 80 percent increase in fashion searches, and queries for the Ouversizes blazer, high-waisted pants, and cropped blazer she wore increased by 50 percent, 46 percent, and 44 percent, respectively.
Emily 和 Mindy
Interestingly, Patricia Field, the costume stylist of the first season of Emily in Paris, is one of the biggest contributors behind the two classic fashion tv series "Sex and the City" and "The Witch Who Wears Prada". The stylist for the second season is Marylin Fitoussi, with Patricia Field as a costume consultant.
Patricia Field
In the first season, Patricia Field created a series of brightly colored and exaggerated looks for Emily. Emily, who walks the streets of Paris, is not well integrated into the fashion atmosphere of the city, but it seems very out of place, which is why people criticize the style in the play. Many people have pointed out that Emily's style in the play is a stereotypical French style, and believes that Emily is a rich second-generation lady in the Upper East Side of the United States, and is a "local tycoon" without compromise.
Audiences, especially in France, believe that the show shows the world in a very obvious way about the huge cultural differences between the United States and France. The Paris in Emily's eyes represents the Stereotypical Paris of Americans, the Parisian life that does not exist in the fantasy. Baguettes, berets, croissants, frivolous attitudes towards work, indiscriminate affection, and all the words we can associate with when we mention France can find a corresponding point in this play, and this reflects the deep stereotype behind the play.
However, as mentioned above, "Emily in Paris" with a "black and red" physique has gained the opportunity to go out of the circle in the continuous questioning and criticism of the audience. At the same time, more importantly, the storyline of the fashion industry also allows the series to step out of the relatively niche cultural circle and gain wider attention and discussion.
Emily, an American girl, has integrated into Paris in her own way, but the city, which symbolizes the "old order" of world fashion, has repeatedly hit a wall at the beginning of her work in a variety of "unkind" ways. And the costume style, which is incompatible with the so-called Parisian style, has become a major "groove" of this series.
First of all, Emily's style in the play is very "American style", or it can be said to be a "Parisian style" with a strong American filter, which represents the most direct expression of Americans' treatment of trends and understanding of fashion. Therefore, Emily's style in the play can be "classified" into the American style at a glance, and even Emily can be directly recognized by the French as an American without having to speak.
From this point of view, the costume stylist seems to be successful again. She successfully distilled several important elements of the American style and combined them together to make the characteristics of the American style more intense.
Patricia Field previously said in an interview that the reason she deliberately emphasized American style elements in Emily's style was that she believed emily needed to express her American identity before being assimilated by the elegance of Paris. "For me, my job is to create the most interesting, original and beautiful costumes for the actors, not to blend in with the environment." So we can also understand why emily's appearance in the play is so different from the real Paris.
On the other hand, the differences between the United States and France in their treatment of fashion culture and social issues are also magnified in the play. For Americans, France represents the old order, classical but conservative, and for the French, America represents modernity, advanced but without foundation. Therefore, when Emily first arrived in Paris, she was always ridiculed by the French as a "countryman", because in the eyes of the French, Americans wearing famous brands are upstarts, and they are "dirt buns" who do not understand fashion and only understand famous brands.
But like Emily's career in the show, she uses new thinking, new ways of playing, and new strategies to help Parisian fashion brands come to life. The real French brands are also facing such a paradox, on the one hand, they are still "on top", symbolizing the last pyramid of haute couture, but on the other hand, american brands have gradually encroached on the former's market with commercial play. Even when there are American designers at the helm of the French fashion house brand, the French will always shout out the argument that haute couture is going to die.
Therefore, through the "social media", the most popular marketing tool at the moment, the play reflects a reality in the real fashion field, that is, how to maintain the mystery and luxury of luxury brands in the current era of social media flooding. At the same time, it also reveals the collision between different cultures, still based on the fact that stereotypes are based. WWD
Written by Karlie
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