Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu On Emily in Paris, Aging Gracefully, and Team Gabriel or Team Marcello

0:05This is The Run Through. I'm Chloe Mel and I am so excited because it is day one of Shark Week. From designers to actors to the Vogue editors attending the Milan and Paris shows, we will be covering all things fashion every day this week. So first up, we have Philippine Lois-Beaulieu. She is best known for her role as Sylvie, the chief marketing officer at the luxury consulting firm Savoir in the beloved Netflix show Emily in Paris. And I would say on screen and on the red carpet, Philippine really stands out for how elegant and chic she is. Vogue's senior living writer, Elise Taylor, joined me for this interview.

0:46She covers everything from weddings to interiors to the royals. Elise is also a royal Emily in Paris fan. And when we asked Elise to do this interview, she said that it was her dream. Right, Elise? Correct. It is my dream. I have no other aspirations beyond this conversation. Now I need to find some new ones. But it was so good to talk to Philippine in person in our New York studio. She, oh my God, she looks so chic. She was wearing this like metallic houndstooth russia skirt suit. It was heaven. Yes. And she wore this amazing outfit here. And she's been wearing all these amazing looks on the red carpet that we discussed from her relationship with Daniel Rosemary at Schiaparelli to her fantastic Balenciaga gown that she just wore at the most recent premiere.

1:35Yes. Oh, she looks so fabulous. It was this, like, extremely exaggerated basket skirt dress, but was super sexy and sort of subversive in the way that Schiaparelli often is. She really wears clothes in the way that the French are unbelievably capable of, which is that they never seem to wear her. She also just gave such the French of answer of, we asked her what her favorite brands were, and she said she doesn't wear labels. I know. She looked at us with such sort of confusion and derision. It was like, labels? I just deleted everything from my Net-A-Porter card. I was like, I got to re-look at this.

2:12All right. Here is our fantastic conversation with Philippine. Listen up to find out whether Philippine is Team Gabrielle or Team Marcello.

2:33you come to the new yorker radio hour for conversations that go deeper with people you really want to hear from whether it's bruce springsteen or quest love or olivia rodrigo liz cheney or the godfather of artificial intelligence jeffrey hinton or some of my extraordinarily well-informed colleagues at the new yorker so join us every week on the New Yorker Radio Hour, wherever you listen to podcasts.

3:06Philippine, we are so excited to have you here, and we want to know what brings you to New York. First of all, thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be here. We're doing a press tour, so we're ending our press. Still for Emily? Yes, for Emily in Paris. We're ending the press tour here. Okay. And we're so excited to be in New York. It's like the apex of the press tour. It's great. We want to know what you're wearing today because this is a beautiful suit. Well, I'm wearing a Rocha suit, and it is beautiful. Yeah. It's like Prince de Galles, but kind of very big. It's fantastic. A metallic sort of houndstooth.

3:41I think Prince de Galles is houndstooth. Isn't it? Yeah. Sorry, I'm all French with all these. Well, no, that's great. I don't speak French, so I have no idea what you guys are talking about. Elise doesn't speak French, but Elise is the number one Emily in Paris fan in our office. So we were very excited to have Elise join us for this moment. I have to say, when I go to Paris, because I have long brown hair and I try to speak French, sometimes behind my back I can hear them call me Emily in Paris. I'm sure people do make fun of Americans all the time now by calling them Emily in Paris. Why don't you wear red beret?

4:12Then people really will call you Emily. I was like, I'm taking it in stride. I love that show, and she is plucky, just like me. So congratulations on the new season of Emily in Paris. But it's not Emily in Paris anymore. It's Emily in Rome. No, it's going to be Emily in Paris. It's still going to be Emily in Paris, but in Rome also. There's going to be a clash of cultures and also fashion, obviously. And you grew up in Rome, right? Yeah, I grew up in Rome. I grew up in Rome from three months to 11 years old. So it's my hometown. It's my city of heart. Was it sort of like filming at home or did it feel too far away?

4:50Yeah, no, no, no. It felt like filming at home. Oh, wow. How long were you in Rome for? We were filming for two weeks. Okay. Yeah. No, it was wonderful. We came out of a horrible winter in Paris and filming in winter was a first for us. We never did it before. Oh, interesting. Okay. So we arrived in Rome. Finally, there was spring and light and vitamin D. So it was great. What would you say are the biggest differences between Parisian and Roman style? Oh, well, the Parisians are more contrived, probably. Like, they want to be on the 31, as we say. I mean, it's like super chic. The Romans are more relaxed.

5:24Not at night. Will you explain that expression for people who don't know it? Être sur son 31? It means on your 31. On your 31. I don't know why, where it comes from. but it means really being really like careful of everything. You know, you have to be like perfect, really elegant. The French, yeah, they dress up early in the morning. The Italians don't. The Italians, like the Romans would walk around really casual during the day but then at night, oh, they put on a big game. They're like excessively, you know, elegant at night. Whereas the French would go through the whole day with the same, you know, with the same outfit, but then like tweak it with something for the night.

6:11Is your style more Roman or French? More Roman. You've been really, really killing it with your red carpet style, by the way, recently. Oh, thank you. So can you tell us a little bit about some of your favorite red carpet looks? I loved your Schiaparelli, but you also wore this amazing Balenciaga. Yeah, the Schiaparelli was a thing. I mean, I'm in love with Daniel Roseberry's work. As much as I love the Sanoram work, too, Macaero's work. But it's like two opposites. One is really like very simple, sleek, and sexy. The other one is like a dream world. Will you describe the Schiaparelli dress that we're talking about?

6:47Okay, we're talking about a black dress that had this, I don't know how you say that, damasse kind of material. I mean, it's hard for me in English. But it looked really simple up. and then the skirt was coming out like that. It had fringes in the middle because it was like inspired by his Texan upbringing. And then the shoes looked like a little bit like boots, but there were shoes, you know, all these shoes that he made with the heel that is... And yeah, it was impossible to sit in it. I'm sure I noticed that. As usual with Daniel, but it was... It almost had a sort of pannier skirt. Yeah, it had a pannier thing, yeah.

7:26It almost was a take on a – Yeah, sort of period kind of dress. But then it was open in the middle with fringes coming down. Sexy Watu. Yeah, exactly. So, no, it was so nice to wear it. I felt – you feel like one of his characters in his shows because all the models are like characters. They really are. I went to his couture show and every model just sort of embodied each look in this way that you don't typically see on the runway. Totally. And there's a mystery to all his clothes, all his outfits. It's like, oh, what does he want to say here? Will you be going to the Schiaparelli show in Paris?

8:06Oh, and do we know what we're wearing yet? Oh, no, not this time. I'm going to the couture. No, this time I'm going to the Saint Laurent. Just Saint Laurent? Yes. And what are you wearing? Uh-huh. I'm wearing one of his transparent looks. You know, what else? How do you decide what you're going to wear for a red carpet event? Is it, you know, the Schiaparelli look was so dramatic. Is it making you know for certain events you want to make more of a statement or do you want to lean into a character? We decide together with my stylist who's, you know, my accomplice here, Clement Lomelini, who's great.

8:38And we decide together. You know, he sends me ideas and we, yeah, it's about moods. And maybe sometimes we want to make a bigger statement. Maybe sometimes we go, okay, let's play it low-key. It's interesting because we're kind of not trying to be Sylvie too much because obviously the character is strong. But it kind of comes out as Sylvie sometimes. There's quite a trend of method dressing on the red carpet these days. Right. I know. So I wonder, are you doing that with Sylvie? Not really. I'm not really trying. But for some reasons, the shapes that I like are also the shapes that I'm wearing with Sylvie.

9:13But, you know, Sylvie would never wear the Schiaparelli dress I wore. That's a totally different character. What is your style like off the red carpet? If we see you walking in the 7th, what would you be wearing? Jeans, T-shirts, and a pair of loafers. Okay, what are the brands? Let's just take, for example. Well, sometimes nothing special. Sometimes, you know, it's like, yeah, I love to have like a nice cut jacket. You go to Saint Laurent, obviously, because he's the best for that. Or even jeans are beautiful, the jeans that he does. But I'm not into brands in real life, not too much. I'm also a Saint Laurent girl.

9:51I love Bacarello. I mean, so I'm in between these two opposites. And I like that. And I like not to be, you know, pigeonholed in something. It's like... I also, when I was researching for this interview, I didn't realize that your mother was a designer for Dior. Yes. She worked for 20 years with Marc Bourin. She did jewelry and accessories and bags and knitwear. She was a great inspiration for the role of Sylvie, actually. And I wore some of her jewelry for season one because I needed her to be with me at that moment. So some of the cuffs that she did for Dior with Marban, I wore some of the brooches that she did, beautiful, beautiful brooches.

10:35I wore some earrings. She was an incredibly creative and I would say crazy in a way woman with a lot of taste and very irreverent like Sylvie and quite provocative. A little mean on the side too like Sylvie. Well, so wait. I want to know if it was the chicken or the egg. Were you drawn to the role because she was like your mother or did you make Sylvie more like your mother? No, when I read the sides, when I did the reading for Darren, I thought, oh, I know this woman. Okay. And Darren is Darren Star, the creator of Emily in Paris as well as Sex and the City. Right. You grew up surrounded by this amazing access to fashion with your mom working at Dior.

11:20So how has that influenced your own relationship with clothing and style? When I was a teenager and she was working in fashion, I was fed up with fashion. I just couldn't stand it anymore because she was away a lot. because when you work in that industry, you're not at home. So obviously as a kid, you think, oh, my God, my mom's not here because she's working, and you kind of hate it. But then, you know, with time, I realized how much she taught me about not following a trend, about having twists in the way that you dress and not be too classical, having a sense of humor when you wear something because that's important.

11:54You can't take yourself seriously when you're dressing up. Otherwise, it's boring. Is there one style tip she gave you that you just can't forget? Well, she was like, go with the basics and then twist them, you know. Just don't be too complicated. No Christmas tree. Uh-uh. Do you yourself have similarities to Sylvie? Yeah, of course. I mean, playing a character is always like taking like 5 % of what you have in you and then making it bigger. so when I'm channeling Sylvie during the shooting I'm always kind of my friends are really wary of me because they know I can snap but it's basically like doing a shadow work she's my shadow have you ever played a character that long?

12:49no never first time and it's wonderful especially because Darren Star when he writes He really is inspired by what he sees of us, you know. So he's going to write, you know, when he writes more and more seasons, it becomes deeper and deeper and more complex. So it's really interesting. So I mentioned that I'm deep in the Emily in Paris fandom. And I can tell you that there's a big cry from all the fans about doing a Sylvie spinoff. So what do you think? Or an origin series. Or an origin series. No, the origin, I wouldn't be able to play it, so no. Good answer. No, I'd love the spinoff. I'd love it.

13:30You know, like a Sylvia in New York or something like that. It's Frasier to the cheers. I'd love that. I'd love it. We have to convince Netflix. Netflix, make it happen. I'm speaking for the fans. Netflix, make it happen. Part of the fun in Emily in Paris is that there's so much internet chatter and checking of the outfits that you guys wear. Thanks to, you know, the amazing Patricia Field. So are you part of the decision-making process for what Sylvie wears? Are there any items from Sylvie's closet that you've tried to take home from the dressing room? Okay, to answer the last question, no. I tried, and it's still sitting in my closet.

14:07I never wore it. Oh, wow. What was it? Fess up to your crime. It wasn't a crime. I bought it. But it's the Rick Owens khaki wrap around thing that I was wearing in season one. And it sat in my closet. And then, you know, when we shot season four, I told Marilyn, Fatucia said, okay, I'm going to bring it back and I'm going to wear it again because I can't wear it in real life. I just can't. Oh, that's funny. It's a costume. But, yeah, we do talk a lot. It's not her deciding. It's us, you know, having ideas for every season. Okay, what's the direction? How are we going to work this out? You know, and I think all the actresses and actors work with her like that.

14:49So for her, it's a lot more work because she has to listen to us. But for us, it's delightful because we also, it's not about clothes. It's about costumes. So they all carry a story, a meaning when we're wearing them. It's not only about showing off fashion. It's about, you know, how do you feel? And I also felt that Sylvie needed to be very contrived since the beginning of the show. And now it ends in Rome where she's more relaxed. And it goes with, you know, the evolution of the character. I actually own a dress that Sylvie wore in Rome. Oh, really? And I was very proud of myself. Which one?

15:25Which one? Pray tell. It's the poochie dress that you wore. Oh, I love that one. I wore it to a wedding and I was like, I was, you know, ahead of the curve. Oh, good for you. There is sort of a feedback. Some people think that Emily in Paris is over the top or cliche. It's perfect. Don't listen to her. I really don't care about this kind of. Well, that's. No, the thing is that, yes, it is, but that's Darren Star's signature. He loves, you know, Sex and the City was over the top, too. What happens is that, first of all, it's wonderful. It's a wonderful escapism story that everybody wants to follow.

16:02But then with time, when you look at Sex and the City today, you realize that he was talking about things that were so important in that time. And it gives you a real, like, photograph of society at that moment in time. And it's going to be the same thing with Emily. I'm sure of that because what is, you know, what's really inside of the show, what's like what he's trying to say is much deeper. We know it because we play the character. It tapped the zeitgeist. It does. Yeah. It does. I was reading an interview that you gave recently actually with Vogue.com where you said that Emily Paris is actually a show about loneliness in many ways, which I thought was really interesting.

16:44Yeah. I think it's about this whole idea that women are so liberated today that they can roam around and do whatever they want, blah, blah, blah, which is great. But at the same time, we can't not say that it's also about never finding your special one because you're going to be roaming around doing your life and being professionally successful. But then there is an aspect of loneliness there for Emily, for Sylvie. Okay, Sylvie's an open couple, but she's kind of lost into this thing. And Emily, too. So that's also why I think in 10 years' time we're going to look at it and think, oh, uh-oh. Not to bring down this conversation that's very eloquent and intellectual with what is sure to be a trashy question, but I'm going to ask it, which is are you Team Gabriel or Team Marcelo?

17:37I'm Team Emily and Mindy. Oh, that's very diplomatic. No, you know what? I love them both, actually. I really do. I'm team Gabrielle. I mean, team Marcello is the answer. No, Marcello's wonderful. He's wonderful. But Gabriel's wonderful, too. So it's like, no, I can't choose. It's like favorite children. One of them, you would get free Laurel Piana, basically. So Marcello is the thinly veiled. Cashmere or canapes. Right, exactly. Cashmere canapes. Is that kind of the way we should ask you? Cashmere canapes? Can you tell us in code? Cashmere. I knew it! But that's because Sylvie loves cashmere.

18:22Exactly. I mean, she's a luxury consultant.

18:29The Run-Thru will be back in just a moment.

18:39Right now, in movies, in the opera, even in pop music, divinely inspired women are everywhere. This week on Critics at Large, we make our case. Saints are having a moment. Look, I can spout off any number of cliches, but they're all true. The world is moving faster and faster. Materialism is now reaching every single corner of the globe. it's very hard to say no and to say stop and to say I will do without. And I think that explains some of the modern cultural appeal. I'm Vincent Cunningham. Join me and my co-hosts on Critics at Large from The New Yorker. Find us every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts.

19:26I love that in this season you tell Emily that she's very good at mixing work with pleasure. And it's a classic sort of Sylvie line because it's extremely bitchy but also a compliment. Have you become friends with anyone on the cast? What is the sort of offset set vibe? Do you guys hang out during shooting? During shooting, we don't. I don't. I go to sleep. Okay. But, no, I mean, actually, Bruno Gouiri is my neighbor in Paris. Oh, really? So we hang out a lot. Plus he's in Paris. So I can, you know. Okay. Who does Bruno play for people who don't? Luc. He plays the crazy Luc. And I love him. He's like a Roberto Benigni kind of character.

20:08He's so funny. He's very funny. And when he started talking about Anaïs Nin, I thought it made me laugh so much. He has beautiful lines and moments in this season. You know, he talks about Antonioni. It's great. He's like, suddenly you discover that he has a lot of culture. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, he's an intellectual. And he's, and off, he's like a super nice, adorable guy, super intelligent, very smart. And I love hanging out with him. Is there an Emily and Paris group chat on WhatsApp? There is now a family, it's called. It's not family, family. Oh. That was initiated by Lucas Gabriel. So we're like, oh, Lucas, that's so cute.

20:51And how often are people – what is discussed in the group chat most frequently? I don't know. Last night I was discussing with Lucas about – what was I discussing about? I don't even remember. I don't know. Jokes and, like, how do you feel? Where are you? You know, it's like – because we're in those press tours, like, in different hotels doing different things. Is everyone in New York right now? Yeah. They're all leaving, actually. They're all – it's at the end. Okay. But, yeah, we're all here except for Camille, Camille Raza, who isn't here. Okay. But so, yeah, it's jokes. It's stupid stuff or let's go and have a drink or whatever.

21:28So we've talked a fair about your mother, but we also know your father was an actor. Yeah. But I heard that he didn't want you to go into the industry. No, my father was not against it. He was an actor, so he knew that, you know, once you get into this, it's like tricky. It's a tricky business. But he was very supportive. My mother was more against it. She was like, oh, okay, I lived with an actor. I know what that is. You know, please don't do that. You know, but I did it. Was it hard? Your daughter's a young adult now. Was it hard when she was little that if you were traveling a lot when you were working?

22:00Well, actually, when she was little, I kind of slowed down my career because I wanted to be with her. I wanted to be a real mom. Did you ever regret that? Never. Never. We have the most beautiful relationship today, and she's a wonderful woman. So I think it has to do with, you know, the love that I gave her when she was young. No, I never regret that. I mean, that's the most important thing in life is the love you have for your kids and the kids have for you. It's like it's the most beautiful relationship. It's a love that you don't have anywhere else. You're making me stress now that I'm at the office all day.

22:34I'm having an anxiety attack. But yes, I'm so glad. Oh, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That's my Italian side. Oh, mama, mama, mama, mama. Yes, exactly. I've read that you don't care about aging, and I think that's not the easiest stance to take, especially with the pressures of the industry. So I would love you to kind of just more expand on that. You know, why have you been outspoken about aging naturally? Because, first of all, I have an energy that allows me to feel alive and have a lot of enthusiasm for life. So I don't care about having more wrinkles because I think the important thing is the energy, the creativity that you keep in your heart, the wanting to go towards people, and also transmission to a younger generation, which is something that is so beautiful.

23:28So and also my daughter said, I don't want to age in a world where women do not are not allowed to have wrinkles. So I said, yeah, you're right. You're right. And I listened to her because she's right. She's totally right. I have noticed, you know, a lot of older women and they've gotten Botox in their face. And, you know, they're doing this, of course, because there's such an unrealistic pressure to look beautiful and hot. And, you know, even as you age. But, you know, it freezes your facial muscles. It does. Which is required to act. So I'm thinking about how difficult that must be for working female actors to decide between, which is, okay, do I keep up with these beauty standards that have been placed on me?

24:11Or choose my skills where I can actually emote. Yeah. I take care of my skin a lot, obviously. Okay, what's the skin secret? I don't know. Well, first of all, it's good genes. I mean, really good genes. But I do take care of my skin a lot. I do a lot of massage on my skin now, you know, my face. Do you do buccal massage? Yeah, I did that. That's really interesting. It's really good. Our beauty editor is extremely into that. It's really good. So as natural as you can and aging gracefully, but that's kind of a – I want to be able to play a grandmother very soon. You know, it's not only Sylvie. it's you know in a few years i'd love to play like you know an older woman so for that i need a face that ages otherwise i'm not going to try to play the 30 year old all my life i can't it would be ridiculous and it's like the actresses that do that i know it comes from insecurity and from pressure but it's very sad it's like also having access to roles that are more about transmitting something than to always be like up front and like I'm so sexy no you know it's like I don't really care about that I have to say last time I was in Paris I was so delighted it was my last night there and I saw Katrine Deneuve walking her shih tzu and I said she looks fabulous and she looks her age and she doesn't care she goes to the same nail bar as me and she's like chatting with the nail woman And I'm like, she's great.

25:47Yeah, in France, people are not as obsessed with that. I mean, yeah, women take care of themselves, but there's not that pressure. And also, directors in France don't like women that are expressionless. You know, it's like, no, you can't have that. So do you think Emily will stay in Rome? Ah, well, I can't think anything because Darren thinks. I'm not the one who thinks. You are well media trained. But I know that Darren wants us to go back to Paris. He loves Paris. So it's going to probably be like back and forth, which I'm delighted about because I want to go back to Rome. Emily on the plane and Sylvie on the plane and Marcello on the plane maybe and Gabriel on the plane.