Since Emily in Paris premiered, in October 2020, viewers have lauded the title character’s many outfits. Some of the characters in the show have even commented on Emily Cooper’s (Lily Collins) over-the-top, American in Paris–themed ensembles (in the newest season, Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) referred to them as “silly” in front of their entire French class). But what we viewers might not realize is that Emily’s wardrobe choices — whether it’s the tightly buttoned shirts she wears to her marketing job at Savoir or the perennially Parisian beret — contain details that are actually emblematic of her character's development, and even the progression of the show’s plot.  

In the second season, there’s a significant shift — both in the story and Emily’s outfits — all set into motion in Episode 5. In “An Englishman in Paris,” Emily once again reminds Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) that she and Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) are just friends, and, as she’s only in Paris a year, it wouldn’t make sense to start a relationship. In a titular moment, Sylvie turns to her and says: “Emily, you’ve got the rest of your life to be as dull as you wish. While you’re here, fall in love, make mistakes, leave a disastrous trail in your wake. If you’re going to do Paris for one year, for God’s sake, do it right.” While resisting this romantic fantasy with Gabriel and an attachment to Paris and its less rigid way of life, Emily simultaneously tries to sell Alfie, her new love interest, on the magic of the city as a romantic symbol for people around the world. Through this budding connection with Alfie, she slowly begins to open up to the possibility of indulging in a fling and loosening up, just as Sylvie says she should. And it’s at this very moment in Season 2 that a meaningful motif begins popping up in Emily’s wardrobe.

As Emily navigates being a romantic and a realist, she’s also organizing an event for Chopard, one of Savoir’s clients, as it launches its new Happy Hearts bracelet collection. In keeping with the event’s love boat theme, Emily wears a sparkling diamond heart necklace as well as a white dress that’s playfully printed with bright red hearts. It’s the first time in the season that we see her donning hearts on her sleeve (literally), but it’s definitely not the last. All dressed up in love and sailing down the Seine, she makes progress in getting Alfie to see the appeal of Paris and in moving away from Gabriel, fueled by her pact with Camille (Camille Razat). “I’m only in Paris for a year. That’s always been the deal, and I don’t want us to start something that we can’t continue,” Emily says to Gabriel immediately after the event, still decked out in hearts. “This you and me, it’s a fantasy. It’s a Paris fantasy.” 

As Emily closes the door to an ever-complicated romance with Gabriel, wading into what she thinks is a more casual affair with Alfie, someone who, like her, is only in the city for a short time, heart-themed clothing and accessories begin to become a day-to-day staple. 

In the following episode, she’s seen with Alfie again — but this time, Emily indulges in the tiny-purse trend and sports a miniature pink crossbody with a red heart-shaped clasp. A few scenes later, she wears a white skirt featuring an abstract pattern formed by small metallic red heart shapes. And it can’t be overlooked that Emily chooses this outfit specifically when she is trying to prove to Alfie that she can be fun, by spontaneously hopping on a Vespa that a client has sent over and riding it through the streets of Paris. In this moment, she sheds her rigid, work-obsessed American identity and further welcomes the possibility of a lighthearted (pun intended) fling.

Hearts don’t show up on Emily’s body again until Episode 8, when she’s packing to leave Champagne and sees Camille and Gabriel rekindling their romance. In this scene, she wears a woven top made up of five rows of red, light blue, white and pink hearts that dangle down and around her torso. The multicolored commingling of hearts comes into play here as Emily feels mixed emotions about Camille and Gabriel potentially reuniting, especially after the two women made their pact. As she rides away from the Champagne country home and out of the love triangle, she seems to once again embrace her newfound romance with Alfie and a less uptight attitude, all while hearts hang suspended over her chest. 

Emily opts for another teeny heart-adorned crossbody bag in Episode 9, when greeting Madeline (Kate Walsh) as she arrives in Paris at the Savoir office. “Your purse is so small. What do you keep in there?“ Mads teases, perhaps highlighting the very different ways that Americans and the French view love, relationships, life in general — a difference Emily herself has been struggling to negotiate all season. And it’s no coincidence that this little heart accessory is displayed just after Emily embattles her own heart, and her feelings for Gabriel.

Then, our final heart accessory makes its appearance in the season finale. Emily attends a fashion show, put on at Madeline’s insistence by Savoir, wearing a delicate gold heart necklace displayed on her décolletage. After a fiasco following the fashion show, when Emily is left unsure of her future career and whether it will take her back to Chicago sooner than she thought, she meets Alfie for drinks, where she pours her thoughts out to him. It’s here that Alfie informs her that he’ll be leaving Paris very soon, but he’d like to stay in a relationship, even if it means being together long-distance. Throughout the conversation, as we watch Emily grapple with the potential of newfound love, we quite literally see her heart displayed on her chest — an unmistakable metaphor for how far she’s come since the season’s start.

At this point, Emily is faced with a decision: She can either revert back to the way she was when she first arrived in France — only worried about her career and closed off to Paris and its many magical possibilities. Or she can take a leap into love — with her current suitor, her still-looming, past flame, or the city of Paris itself. She’ll have to follow her heart.

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