Read These French Women's Reactions Towards Emily In Paris

Emily In Paris could be the most polarising Darren Star drama in a while. So which side of the fence do these stylish French women sit on?

Viewing party. Credit: Courtesy
Viewing party. Credit: Courtesy

There has been a lot of talk about Paris recently – not because Paris Fashion Week just wrapped but because Emily is in Paris. The Emily in question, is of course, the plucky Chicago transplant Emily Cooper (played by Lily Collins) from the trending Netflix series Emily In Paris which dropped its entire first season on Oct 2.

If you've not caught it yet, here are the CliffsNotes: Emily's the ingenue from Chicago who has just arrived from across the pond to bring her "American point of view" to the way a French marketing agency ran its social media game. Along the way, she gets involved in a love triangle.

The brainchild of Sex And The City creator Darren Star, the show has all the makings of being a SATC 2.0 on paper – the small girl finding love in the big city narrative, the messy romantic relationships, and the Patricia Field-designed wardrobe.

READ MORE: Meet Aymeline Valade, The French Model With Impeccable Style

But alas, in a span of 10 30-minute-long episodes, Emily In Paris has single-handedly raised the ire of the French public, the Sarah Jessica Parker fan club, American expats in Paris, viewers of cancelled Netflix shows Glow and Teenage Bounty Hunters, and even real-life social media experts.

Part of the argument lies in the way the show is riddled with so many cliches about what being French means (read: the overt sexism, the blase attitude towards extramarital affairs, smoking cigarettes in the office, et al) and how the creators have chosen to fetishise Paris as a tourist fantasy.

Then there is the camp who ridicules it for Emily's chaotic and tacky-looking wardrobe. Her lack of finesse in pulling off pret-a-porter has one American publication describing her aesthetic as "cribbed from a smooth TikTok algorithm". Indeed, SJP Emily is not.

READ MORE: A Cheat Sheet To Dressing Like Cool ’70s French Style Icons Such As Jane Birkin

If the thought of a green Chanel jacket over a green plaid dress, with a matching bucket hat and printed green scarf gives you a migraine, seeing it on screen verges on the vertiginous. To be fair, though, her aesthetic does evolve by the end of the show.

Some digital experts have also picked on Emily's outlandish and flippant attitude towards marketing on social media. Peyton Dix, the special projects editor at InStyle was quoted by the magazine as saying: "Although I am obsessed with the show (I live for white mess), I would both block and report little miss @emilyinparis in an instant. She uses hashtags not a single soul would engage with, proposes half-baked social projects, and goes viral by reclaiming the vagina??"

READ MORE: What’s The Right Way To Wear Makeup Now? Chanel’s Beauty Guru Lucia Pica Gives Us An Exclusive Insight

With Emily In Paris drawing so much attention from viewers, we decided to ask a group of Frenchwomen for their unvarnished opinions about the show. Scroll below to see their verdicts.


Nejla Matam-Finn

Stefan Khoo
1/1

Who: She's the French-Algerian founder and chief executive of the Singapore-based luxury and pre-loved e-tailer The Fifth Collection, which has recently expanded its growth overseas in markets like the United States. Launched in 2014, the site is a well-curated treasure trove of designer wares where you can find cult items like Paco Rabanne's 'Iconic 1969' chainmail bag and plenty of statement costume jewellery.

What she says: "My husband and I were amused by how polarising Emily In Paris had become so we decided to watch it for ourselves. Our team mentioned that it was an easy show to watch and wanted to hear our opinions as French-speaking people. Personally, I don't think the show should be turned into a sociological study, but I do find it funny how some French people and expats in France viewed it as offensive. Coming from someone who had lived in Paris for seven years – and who still has a home as well as family and friends there – I will say that the play on the stereotypes of Parisians in the show was very true.

The French are unapologetically blunt and Paris is a ruthless place to be in because everyone is aggressive. I always find that Paris and New York City are very similar in a lot of ways: both cities feel that they are at the centre of the world. The dichotomy between Paris and 'the rest of the world' played out very well in the show and through the characters of Emily the 'la plouc' (country bumpkin) from Chicago and Gabriel, the chef from Normandy.

You need to be assertive to survive in the city. I remember how my American husband came home one day from the boulangerie empty-handed without any bread because he wasn't firm with his order, even though he is a native speaker of the language. Life in Paris became a situation of who was going to pull rank with their frustrations. However, I have to admit that through the years, Parisians have toned it down and they're much nicer than they used to be to a point that I told myself, 'I didn't have to be aggressive to anyone today’."

Share This Story: