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The jewellery in ‘Emily in Paris’ tells an India story
Summary
Meet the Indian jeweller behind the several of the minimal pieces worn by Lily Collins’ confused, peppy character
It’s a show with a formula: Emily goes to Paris for work, falls in love with the city, decides to stay and navigate her (mostly self-inflicted) chaotic life, while deciding whether she should pick a delicious French chef or a good-looking British finance bro. Familiar chaos drags on in Season 4 of Emily in Paris as well.
What’s different this time is the way Emily, played by Lily Collins, dresses.
She looks more Parisian than before, reflecting how her character has matured, influenced by her surroundings. Of course, the clashing prints and bold colours are still very much part of her wardrobe—that’s what makes Emily, well, Emily. (“I don’t want her to look like an ordinary French girl," the show’s costume designer Marylin Fitoussi had told The New York Times in 2021, when Season 2 was out. “I don’t want to make a clone of what is French or what is supposed to be French fashion. If I do that, I fail.") But she’s no longer loud just for the sake of loud. Whether it’s a black-and-white wool Andrew Gn coat with feathered cuffs and Victorian-style buttons, or a sheer Marlene Birger ruffled blouse paired with an Isabel Marant corduroy mini-skirt and Possery’s yellow wax jacket, Emily seems to have pared down her outfits.
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Helping complete her evolved look is easy, everyday jewellery, much of which is inspired by Indian motifs and architecture. They have been created by Nue, a brand by Mumbai-born, Antwerp-based enterpreneur Priyanka Mehta, who works with lab-grown diamonds.
Emily’s Grace Necklace (a gold chain with a coloured diamond accented by and a bunch of colourless diamonds) in the first episode, for instance, is inspired by the inlay work at the Taj Mahal in Agra and other Mughal structures. Similarly, her earrings in the hot-air balloon Ami commercial remind one of jhumars (chandeliers) in Rajasthan palaces.
“Our brief was straightforward: delicate, sophisticated, wearable and feminine jewellery to go with Emily’s new, more pared down look," Mehta says over a call. “This project has helped me push myself more. I always wanted to work with black gold but wasn’t too sure about it. But then they asked me create a Karl Lagerfeld-inspired ring (to be featured in the second drop of Season 4 expected in September), and I worked with black and white gold."
About 20 of Nue’s pieces have been featured in this season; five were used in Season 3, the first time the Emily In Paris team reached out to Mehta after looking at her brand’s Instagram page. “I thought it was a scam when I saw their email," laughs Mehta, a certified goldsmith and an architectural history graduate from New York’s Columbia University. “We were very young (the brand started in 2019) and weren’t so big on marketing. Now, of course, the series has helped us gain more clients across the world (from the US to India)." One of Nue’s best-selling products is the Gabriel ring (a gold ring with a hidden diamond) that Lucas Bravo’s chef character first wore in Season 3 and continues to flaunt in the new season as well.
What helps the jewellery stand out is its daintiness. As Emily mixes corporate core with vintage core and a few gender-neutral looks, the jewellery bolsters the efforts to turn a peppy, young American into a calmer marketing professional who wants to reinterpret Parisian fashion codes on her own terms.
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