Emily in Paris fuels spike in Chanel interest

By

Robin Driver

Published
Oct 16, 2020

Hit Netflix show Emily in Paris may still be dividing opinions, but its runaway popularity appears to have led to a peak in consumer interest in the products of a certain French fashion house.

 
According to online fashion shopping platform Stylight, their sites saw an increase of 30% in global clicks for Chanel in the week following the premiere of the show on Netflix earlier this month.
 
Created by Darren Star – the man behind Sex and the City – Emily in Paris also boasts the same costume designer as the iconic series, Patricia Field. The wardrobe that she curated for Netflix’s Parisian escapade has been as divisive as the show itself and features a number of scene-stealing pieces by Chanel, a fact which Stylight credits with the sharp rise in interest in the brand on its platform.

The series, which follows the trials and tribulations of a non-French-speaking 20-something American as she tries to navigate life in Paris and her new job at a French marketing firm, has certainly caused enough of a stir to have had an impact on the fashion conversation.
 
The show broke streaming records within days of its launch and has provoked a fiery online debate, splitting opinion between those enchanted by its light-hearted tone and charming setting, and others who are critical of its stereotypical depictions of both French culture and the fashion and luxury industries.
 
It wouldn’t be the first time that the effects of a popular Netflix show have been felt in the world of fashion.
 
The third season of perennial crowd-pleaser The Crown, for example, led to the rediscovery of a young Princess Anne as a fashion icon last year, with a number of publications, including Vogue, publishing articles on the royal’s top looks. An earlier season of the show also helped drive a boost in sales of “traditional” jewelry at British retailer Argos in 2018.
 
For its part, sci-fi romp Stranger Things simultaneously tapped into and helped to perpetuate the longstanding 80s trend, snagging collaborations with H&M, Nike and Levi’s, and even putting in an appearance on the Louis Vuitton runway in 2017.