In today’s issue:
Emily Cooper goes to the mountains and has a knitwear phase. Was anyone glad to leave that behind when she got back to Paris?
Is this show giving Cami the bitch edit? The evidence.
I’ll have a proper Milan Fashion Week recap soon, but some quick highlights in Loose Threads, including Marni. Plus, Vogue tackles the issue of our time: full-look borrowing.
It has to be a sign of success in costume design that, when looking at the current runway collections, I sometimes think “Emily in Paris clothes.” I can’t be the only one who beheld Marni’s floral skirt suit with the blazer so stiff and oversized it would probably stand upright if you set it on the floor, thinking, Emily Cooper would beat someone with a baguette to get her hands on it to present her next Power Point to a jewelry brand.
Netflix left us hanging after five episodes, which ended with the reveal that Camille, who turns to (where else?) Monet’s pond for solace in her time of turmoil, isn’t pregnant but also will continue living in Emily’s apartment building. She also hasn’t told Gabriel, who is being pulled between her and Emily.
Ahead, a character-by-character recap of episode six. If you consider this a show that can be spoiled, yes, there are spoilers. Also, three cheers for season five?
Emily
Emily Cooper is set to make her grand return to Chicago, which if I’m not mistaken she hasn’t done since forsaking her home for the irresistible world of boutique luxury marketing in Paris. She stuffs her suitcase not with the hot European men who seem to fall from the sky wherever she goes, or with Harris Reed ready-to-wear. But rather, ugly Christmas sweaters and mistletoe socks. What fun will it be to go to the local bar full of her high school exes looking like the “before” in a Hallmark Christmas movie?
She started the episode off strong, very Emily-ish, in a suit with a bowtie and enough glitz to look like a cross between a cater waiter and Karl Lagerfeld. The red coat added nothing for me but the little half-gloves were screaming “fashion week street style.” The costume department put her not in normal, sad rent-a-skates, but in twee, fur-trimmed, embroidered ice skates that apparently we can all buy for a mere 80 euros.
She heads to the airport wearing a big shearling coat that makes her look like a sheep in a children’s book. She learns Sylvie’s Christmas gift was upgrading her to business class, and we are treated to really expensive Air France spon con where Emily talks about how much she loves the Air France lounge. Clarins, which provides facials or something there, is sort of a spon con barnacle to this shameless, capitalist cash grab. Only, the flight gets canceled — which is too bad for Emily because knowing her luck, she’d probably have ended up hooking up with, like, Carmy from The Bear.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Back Row to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.