Sylvie’s ‘Emily in Paris’ Gen X Style + Oo La La, Sasson Jeans Are Back
Hello WNVM-ers,
Let’s get right to it! Fawnia enjoyed the excuse to speak again with longtime “Emily in Paris” costume designer Marylin Fitoussi about the clear hero and fashion icon of season four, if not the entire Netflix series: Gen X boss lady Sylvie Grateau, played by 61-year-old Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu. Sure, Sylvie’s specific generation is never specifically stated, but her American counterpart Madeline Wheeler (Kate Walsh) is clearly an X-er. She wore sneakers with a suit! So like with Kamala Harris, we’re claiming the fictional Sylvie. Plus Lily Collins, who plays the show’s protagonist, is Phil’s daughter, so another Gen X association. (Then, there's the whole Augustinus Bader “The Grey Area” product placement/storyline, complete with a Cyndi Lauper reference.) Besides, the French are known for their timeless elegance, and everyone’s asking about Sylvie’s powersuits and slinky dresses, anyway, so you’re welcome.
And in You Oughta Know news, Sasson, the French-sounding label behind those ‘80s tight jeans, seem to be back and we’re anxiously awaiting a Britbox/BBC series about a menopausal punk band.
She Wants to Lead the Glamorous Life
‘Emily in Paris’ costume designer Marylin Fitoussi drops all the style secrets behind the show’s icon, Sylvie Grateau
By Fawnia
“In Japan, New York, Brazil, everybody identifies with Sylvie. Everybody wants to look like Sylvie,” says Marylin Fitoussi, looking striking as always, in her trademark vivid prints and Old Hollywood-esque head-scarf, over a Zoom from her Paris atelier. “And at any age — from 15-years-olds to a woman my age or even grandmothers.”
I mean, who wouldn’t want to emulate the chic-as-fuck designer wardrobe, cool confidence, and career trajectory of luxury marketing agency owner, Sylvie Grateau? She constantly sets a high bar for her younger, often misguided, and always chaotic staffers, especially the show’s titular Chicago transplant Emily Cooper (Lily Collins). Reflecting her mentor’s strong influence, the still-monolingual Emily has traded in her on-the-nose Eiffel Tower-themed blouse and heart-covered dresses for Sylvie-esque polished pantsuits. (Well, sometimes.)
Now, way before TikTok caught on and the headlines blew up this season, I’ve always considered Sylvie to be the show’s true fashion icon. She had me since she skeptically pedaled a Pelotech bike — a rare missed product placement moment! — while dressed in a luxe cashmere sweater and pants set. Parce que bien sûr.
While promoting season four, Leroy-Beaulieu herself seemed to be living her best life channeling her inner Sylvie. “In her regular life, [Leroy-Beaulieu] is very simple,” says Fitoussi, recalling times the makeup-free actress, in jeans and a t-shirt, pulled up on a scooter for fittings. Leroy-Beaulieu even told People she could “never” wear Sylvie’s high heels and tight dresses. But, she almost outdid Sylvie on the season four promo rounds.
“[Leroy-Beaulieu] has that inside her. We call that ‘avoir du chien’ [sex appeal],” says the Toulouse-born and Paris-based Fitoussi. That feels pretty Gen X to me — being confident and secure with your taste and sense of style, while still enjoying new sartorial adventures and experimentation.
So what is it about Sylvie that makes her, and her style, so captivating to seemingly everyone, including the actress who plays her?
“Sylvie represents the Parisian fantasy — what people have in mind when they are thinking of ‘French chic,’” says Fitoussi. “She's classy. She's beautiful. She's confident. She's very powerful. She's giving ‘Class-A Bitch.’
Ahead, the Emmy-nominated costume designer spills the tea on how Sylvie actually created a new French Girl Woman Style, why her smoking hot kitchen caftan is a big fuck you to ageism, and what to possibly expect in the newly announced season five.
Bombshell: Sylvie’s signature style is actually kinda faux French.
Quick reminder: The show’s creator Darren Star also brought us the New York City-set “Sex and the City,” its sequel “And Just Like That,” and Fawnia’s favorite, “Younger.” So, unsurprisingly, he was trés attached to “the bodycon dress” as a sartorial trademark for the ultra-French Sylvie from the start.
“But it's not very Parisian chic — this kind of Hervé Leger bandage dress,” says Fitoussi, explaining that French women prefer looser, boxier silhouettes, like the show’s (and real life’s) quintessential Parisian It Girl, Camille (Camille Razat) and her edgy-cool Isabel Marant and Balmain-filled wardrobe. Taking creative license, Fitoussi finally landed on an inventive balance of “American sexiness and the French à certain chic je ne sai quoi,” she says. “Sylvie exuded that and people perceive this as really typical of Parisian style.” Call me fooled.
Sylvie continues to dress for success in ‘elevated’ powersuits
While the 20-somethings Emily and Mindy (Ashley Park) are still exploring their style via perpetual experimentation with clashing prints and little hats, Sylvie found and maintains an aesthetic reflecting her worldly knowledge and experience.
“[However, this season] we get more elevated,” says Fitoussi. Sylvie puts out multiple fires at the French Open, outfitted in an ultra-starched, white and red pinstriped pantsuit from the Vivienne Westwood archives. She also oversees the bustling office in a monochrome white pantsuit from the Ralph Lauren archives. “She’s as comfortable, sharp, and powerful in a three-piece suit as she is in a body-con dress,” says Fitoussi. “Because it's really an attitude.”
Sylvie stands strong in her ‘revenge dress’
This season, the marketing guru bravely revisits past trauma to reclaim her narrative, and safeguard the next generations. During a pivotal masquerade ball, stacked with Truman Capote Black and White Ball-inspiration, Sylvie decides to go on record with Le Monde about sexual harassment during her assistant days from the head of a fashion conglomerate. Afterward, she resolutely snaps her product-placed Samsung foldable phone shut, and stands assured in a contoured black gown, with a silver ombré effect on the bodice and neckline. (Aside: If anyone can make foldable phones happen, it's Sylvie.)
For the couture handknit dress, Fitoussi sought out Paris-based Lebanese designer Maison Rabih Kayrouz for “something beautiful, very minimalist, and sharp.” She also compares the structured, arm-baring gown to Joan of Arc in armor. “Sylvie had this warrior look. ‘OK, I'm going to war,’” says Fitoussi. “She needs to find the strength to agree to this phone call, so I didn't want to have something soft or fancy.
Sylvie ultimately prevails, with the unwavering support of her staff, loyal clients and her nightlife doyenne mother, Héloise (Liliane Rovère). They’ve all gathered at the opening of her erstwhile husband Laurent’s (Arnaud Binard) nightclub. Sylvie looks triumphant in another set of sartorial “armor”: a strapless black Christopher Esber dress with a sort of inkblot-shaped neckline. “She looks like an antique statue, a war goddess,” says Fitoussi, also inspired by Helmut Newton’s black-and-white fashion photography. “But it's funny. It's playful. It’s like a revenge dress, almost.”
Sylvie gives a figurative middle finger to ageism
In hands down my favorite Sylvie moment, she’s in her kitchen aggressively stuffing and stabbing a Christmas turkey, clad in a bold red caftan with a J. Lo in Versace-level deep plunge neckline. (How she kept the impractically long and flowy bell sleeves free from raw poultry juice is beyond me.) For an appropriate peek at Sylvie’s domestic life, Fitoussi envisioned “something casual, but sexy and beautiful” and provocative fashion photography set-ups featuring absurdly-glam styling in mundane situations. “You have long nails, many diamonds, and you are smashing oysters or meat,” says Fitoussi.
But, the hot red caftan from the Ralph Lauren archives also gives a big fuck you to Hollywood’s — and society’s — treatment of women who happen to be on the AARP mailing list.
“I’ve always had this joke with Philippine. We're now the same age and share the same feelings,” explains Fitoussi. “In movies, when [a woman is] past 55 years old, they put you in a caftan, with no shape, and a big necklace. It's like your sexual life just stops. We can't see your body. So every time I try to put a necklace on Philippine, she says, ‘No, no, no, no. Remember caftan and necklace. I still want to be part of the game.’”
Luckily, Leroy-Beaulieu fell in love with the fluid silhouette and insisted on wearing it in two scenes. And, spoiler, Sylvie burned the turkey.
Sylvie relaxes and opens up, emotionally and sartorially, in Rome
In the finale, Sylvie basically crashes Emily’s spontaneous OOO jaunt to reenact Roman Holiday (or Lizzie McGuire, rather). Arriving with the intention to land another client, Sylvie instead revisits her more carefree college days studying film and romancing future film directors. Sylvie’s epiphany also shows through in her wardrobe en Italia.
“When Sylvie’s in Paris, she's very tailored. It's a straight, hard, sharp silhouette. She puts on armor,” says Fitoussi. “When she's in Rome, she's more accessible, more vulnerable and she can show much more emotion. So, she wears much more color and softer fabrics.”
For a celebration dinner, Sylvie looks radiant in a languid, asymmetrical and lush orange halter gown by Saint Laurent. Later, she saunters into a visit, with an old friend Giorgio (Rupert Everett, having a blast), clad in an open back handkerchief hem dress with saucy grommet trim. “We never do print on her,” says Fitoussi, of Sylvie embracing la dolce vita silky Pucci.
Where will Sylvie go in season five?!
“She’s one of the most difficult characters to build and style, because it needs to be minimalist, sharp, and very precise,” says Fitoussi, pondering how to bring Sylvie forward.
“What if she wants to reinvent herself?” asks Fitoussi, assessing options in real time. “She could go more elevated, more crazy, more sexy, more everything…” Sylvie wears the highest of high-end labels, but her pieces never display any thirsty designer logos, which — in line with the quiet luxury of “Succession” — is the ultimate flex. Fitoussi considers mining further designer archives, or commissioning more custom pieces for Sylvie. Of course, the scripts will provide more direction, as the series begins filming in 2025.
“How do I not bore myself, her, and the audience?” says Fitoussi. “I need to think about it. But I need to surprise.”
We are two Gen X journalists who analyze all the '80s and '90s nostalgia in current pop culture, fashion, and beauty. Read more stories like this one here!
You Oughta Know
Imagine our surprise when we saw, in the year of our lord 2024, a billboard in the Tribeca neighborhood of NYC that proclaimed “Oo la la!” next to the unmistakable Sasson logo. Yes, the most notorious jeans of the ‘70s and early ‘80s are back, with little to no fanfare in the fashion press. Sasson has come out of its time capsule to collaborate with the 1987-founded boho brand Johnny Was (whose core customer is 50+, per WWD) on a collection including three jean styles, a maxi skirt, and a jacket. Lily Aldridge, a model best known for her work with Victoria’s Secret, stars in the campaign. We dug into the history of Sasson out of curiosity to try to figure out what happened, and WOW. Founder Paul Guez is… colorful. Hair stylist Vidal Sassoon sued the brand in 1980 for “appropriation of its name.” Sasson had to stop pronouncing the last syllable with the “oo” sound. Then Sasson declared bankruptcy in 1986, after which Guez threatened the life of the judge hearing the case and was arrested for violating the conditions of his arrest. A 2006 article recounts more of his legal and personal antics, including a bout with addiction. He came back with a company called Blue Holdings that released denim brands like Antik in the early ‘00s. This all makes us want to do an ‘80s jeans retrospective. Surely there is so much to dig into with Jordache, Lee, and Gloria Vanderbilt, too. Should we? [Fashion Dive]
In what could be the best Mad Libs-like (remember those?) manifestation of Fawnia’s dream TV genres, existing faves, and intriguing themes, Britbox and the BBC began filming “Riot Women,” an upcoming drama chronicling a makeshift punk rock band of zealous middle-aged ladies who would probably throw a two-finger salute to caftans and big necklaces, too. The West Yorkshire-set series, from BAFTA-winning “Happy Valley” writer Sally Wainright, promises a “deeply potent, long-buried secret” (love a British mystery), original music by alt-rockers ARXX (getting “We Are Lady Parts” vibes), and cast including Amanda Scanlon, who’s stealing scenes right now in “A Very Royal Scandal” and “Slow Horses,” and Lorraine Ashbourne, a.k.a. Miss Varley, the Featherington family housekeeper/consigliere on “Bridgerton.” Per the log line: “The six-part series is a testament to the power of friendship, music, and the resilience of women who refuse to be silenced by age or expectation,” and will premiere in 2025. [WNVM Inbox]
Gird your loins for biopics galore, coming soon. Rapper, singer, and actress Queen Latifah will be the first subject in a series of indie-financed hip hop historical dramas from a coalition of producers, including the multi-award winner herself, Will Smith and the team behind BET’s The New Edition Story and The Bobby Brown Story. “We all came into this industry together, and hip hop has shaped each and every one of us. Hip hop’s impact has expanded beyond just music and has created a lasting impression on culture and society overall,” said Latifah and Flavor Unit producing partner Shakim Compere in a joint statement. Next: K.J. Apa, who played Archie on “Riverdale,” has been cast as Sublime lead singer, Bradley Nowell, who died of a drug overdose in 1996 at age 28. Justin Chon (“Pachinko,” Blue Bayou) directs and co-writes the screenplay with streetwear pioneer, Bobby Hundreds. And, we suppose it was inevitable that irrepressible producer Ryan Murphy would tackle the already hyper-scrutinized stories of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. (And, as if we don’t hear the Kennedy name enough right now.) Of course, everyone has their thoughts on casting, but Fawnia and her Zoomer friend, Zoë Martina of Callum Turner News, are pushing hard for the British dreamboat and his curls to play John-John. Turner does a good American accent! [Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Vogue/Instagram]
For much, much less than an archival Ralph Lauren caftan that's so smoking hot it burns a turkey, you can support us by upgrading your subscription here:
THANK YOU for the Sassoon dive and yes I will buy these immediately.
Wow! I loved every bit of this one too! Great depth and insight all wrapped in fun. TY