EMILY IN PARIS Star Lily Collins Graces INSTYLE NOW Cover!

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For INSTYLE’s Fall 2024 INSTYLE NOW cover, Lily Collins draws comparisons to her namesake character ahead of EMILY IN PARIS’s fourth season (out Aug. 15), in both life and love, describing the “messy” scenarios” and “emotional breakdowns” that come with them. The actress also opens up about leveling up her costumes, what she learned from Sandra Bullock on THE BLIND SET set, and how her wardrobe evolved onscreen and IRL—plus, what may happen when Emily leaves Paris, including an upcoming Polly Pocket film and theatre debut in London. 

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On her on-set education from Sandra Bullock on the set of The Blind Side: “I really understood—by watching her and hearing the questions she was asking and the interactions she was having on set—how to better navigate that world.”

On how a previous relationship criticized how she dressed: “You can’t wear that, you can’t do that, you can’t say that,” Collins recalls when we talk. That experience kick-started what she calls a “dull period.” Collins stuck with muted tones, shying away from bold colors or anything too big or revealing. “I thought for a while that if you make yourself physically, with volume, appear bigger, then you’re taking up too much space,” she says.

Stepping into the platform stilettos on the set of Emily in Paris reintroduced Collins to fashion. “Emily, in a lovely way, takes up so much space,” she says. “Mixing patterns and prints, textures, styles in a way that was foreign to me, I started to realize that I didn’t have to be afraid of color anymore.”

On separating herself from Emily and the need to be perfect: While filming the first season, Collins fretted to her now-husband about the similarities between herself and Emily. “How is this a character?” she wondered aloud. “How do I make her different?” She struggled mightily with Emily’s own perfectionist tendencies, which Collins had been working on herself. As she settled into the role, she realized her own life lessons could apply to her character, too. “This idea of perfection, needing to just always feel ready to go, always feeling like your perfect self,” she muses, “that’s not how I want to live my life, especially at 35.” She calls the fourth installment of Emily in Paris, “the season of vulnerability,” describing “messy” scenarios and the “emotional breakdowns” that come with them.

On the impact and reasoning behind why she wanted a skirt to fit to her body, not the other way around: While shooting an upcoming episode, Collins put on a skirt that had been tailored in an earlier fitting. “It was uncomfortable,” she says of putting on the garment. There was a time when Collins would have worn it anyway and spent the day distracted. Instead, she asked her dresser to cut the back of the skirt and add in elastic, calling it “a small physical act that made a huge emotional difference.” She went on with her day, able to breathe and move much more freely. That candor applies to her social media presence, too. She confesses to being someone who falls into the spiral of scrolling and thinking others are leading their best lives. “It’s a gentle reminder to not be that for someone else,” she says. “I need to feel my reality.”

On what’s ahead for Lily beyond Paris – including a future film as Polly Pocket and her theater debut in London: “I really want to continue to step outside the box,” she says, before correcting herself. “I never wanted to be in a box, I don’t think I’m in a box, but the thing is, Emily is Emily.”

[Photo Credit: Leeor Wild/InStyle Magazine]

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