in honor of emily in paris, here’s our carrie bradshaw dress recreation

What is it about Darren Star’s storylines that have that sort of, je ne sais quoi? Well, I think I’ve managed to put my finger on it!

It’s the allure of leading a creative life in a living and breathing city, in New York or Paris. It’s the fantasy that you can be a columnist, a leader of a trendy publishing imprint or a marketing maven while dripping in Chanel, Manolo Blahniks and Ganni. That on your lunch breaks you have enough time to dine at trendy cafes or French bistros while enjoying a pan du chocolat and discuss your work woes and love life with equally talented, successful, cultured besties.

I have loved every Starr production I’ve seen so far: Sex and the City, Younger, and Emily in Paris is no different (the only one I haven’t seen is Beverly Hills 90210, but I 9021-know that I’ll love it, so it’s on my list now!). The show is a delectable confection that is more feel-good than guilty pleasure. The characters are all delightful, the lavish French scenes of cafes, industry parties (including Paris fashion week) provide much needed escapism during this pandemic, and ooh la la, the fashion! I’m still drooling over every beret-topped ensemble Emily has worn on the show. Leave it up to Patricia Field (who has done the styling on Sex and the City and Younger as well) to put pieces together that you would never think of, but somehow become a tasteful, unforgettable medley. But most of all, I am a huge fan of the gal who wears those coveted outfits, Emily Cooper. She is positive, has a ton of moxie, and is totally relatable—even if I’m having a hard time believing she can afford all that Chanel and Dior on her marketing salary (my only complaint!).  

I’ve admired the actress that brings Emily to life, Lily Collins for a long time too: From her fashion sense that is Audrey Hepburn meets rocker chic to her artistic film projects that are a mix of good fun and heart. I even adore her mother, Jill Collins who I spent a few hours with for a story about her antique store… she is the one who told me to start watching Schitt’s Creek, which I also binged this past week as a chaser to Emily in Paris. But before I even knew who Lily Collins was, my parents played her father Phil Collins’ music in my nursery. Needless to say, that Star and Collins combined, I’ve been ready for this show since it announced pre-production. I’m talking about back when I was still working Hollywood Reporter, so over a year ago of earnest anticipation, and it did not disappoint.

Let’s take things back for a second: last summer when Lily Collins announced via Instagram that she would be starring in Darren Star’s next project, Emily in Paris, I DM’ed my blogger bestie, Mari Makatsaria the announcement. Both being dedicated Sex and the City fans (I mean, hello we’re both journalists who can appreciate a designer shoe like the next fashion girl), we were counting down the days and months until this show would air so that we could recreate Carrie Bradshaw’s iconic newspaper dress look for a photo shoot. For a whole year, I’d been scouring the internet for a more affordable version of the one-of-a-kind Dior dress by John Galliano that Carrie strutted on the cult TV show.

At long last, I discovered this one from Australian online boutique, Peppermayo and bought it within minutes! Much to our dismay, the dress sold out of Mari’s size the second she wanted to get one for us to match. By the grace of God, the dress came back in stock weeks later, made it through customs to her door just in time for our photo shoot. As you can see, Mari and I styled our looks slightly different: she opted for gold jewelry and white strappy sandals while I went for silver hoops and black shoes with a snakeskin heel. We are indeed two parts of the same newspaper, hehe. We had a good laugh achieving these highly stylized photos, especially in between shots Mari’s Instagram fiancé Anton took of us, where he told us to stop looking too pose-y, and we saw exactly why he was telling us not to do certain poses=! In one I straight up looked like I was lunging.  

After a successful photo shoot with outfit changes around Pasadena, we capped the night with four different flavors of pizza and binged the first half of Emily in Paris together. I was fueled to write this post after finishing the second half of the season the following day, accompanied by a wine and a baked ziti dinner!

What show are you bingeing right now? Comment down below!

Keeping it Krischic,

Kristin Vartan

Also Check Me Out On: 23ABC, ABC7 LA, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, E! News, Darling Magazine, Pepperdine Graphic, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok!

Follow Me on BlogLovin