How Emily in Paris outfits are influenced by Sex and the City – shows share a costume director, and a young Emily would have watched Carrie, says Lily Collins, who plays the lead in Netflix show

Patricia Field, costume director for both TV shows, says dressing a character isn’t about believability but capturing their essence and the whimsy of a romcom

In many ways Emily in Paris carries on the fashion legacy of Sex and the City. ‘If Sarah Jessica is the queen, Lily is the princess,’ Field has said

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Carrie Bradshaw (right) in Sex and the City and Emily Cooper in Emily in Pairs both in floral dresses. The two shows have more in common fashion-wise than you would think.

Published: 4:15am, 25 Dec 2021Updated: 7:29am, 25 Dec 2021

December has seen the return of two popular TV shows featuring protagonists searching for fashion, friendship and love in the city.

Emily in Paris, the Netflix show that earned over 58 million household views within its first 28 days during its pandemic debut last year, launched its second season on December 22. Earlier this month And Just Like That, a revival of Sex and the City, premiered on HBO.

US writer Darren Star created both Sex and the City and Emily in Paris, and the comedy-dramas also share the same award-winning costume director – Patricia Field. She was nominated for several Emmys for Sex and the City and comedy drama Ugly Betty, as well as receiving an Oscar nomination for The Devil Wears Prada (Field is not, however, behind the costumes of And Just Like That).

Field brings as much of a philosophy as a sense of fashion to her work. When planning for Emily in Paris, Field told her show colleague Marylin Fitoussi, a costume designer based in Paris, “we don’t care about reality”.

Lily Collins in a still from Emily in Paris.

For Field, building a character’s aesthetic isn’t about making things believable – it’s about capturing the essence of the character and the whimsy of a romantic comedy-drama.