Parisian Chic Meets La Dolce Vita: Creating the Worlds of “Emily in Paris”

The juggernaut series Emily in Paris on Netflix has captured the imagination of viewers through its dazzling backdrops, elaborate soundstage interiors, and iconic real-life locales. From the chic cafés and brasseries that line the city’s cobblestone streets to the opulent Haussmann-style architecture and the ever-present Eiffel Tower looming over museums and landmarks, the City of Light is the true star of the series.

Parisian production designer Anne Seibel is the artistic genius behind show’s stunning scenery. Seibel, who trained as an architect, is best known for her work on Midnight in Paris (2011), Paris Can Wait (2016), Marie Antoinette (2006), and the French scenes in Sex and the City, which connected her with Emily’s creator Darren Star. Seibel has been nominated twice for an Emmy for her work on the show. The set design’s timeless elegance and allure provide the perfect backdrop for Emily’s escapades, making the city as essential to the story as the characters themselves.  “The sets are very beautiful, and the tone of the series in the fourth season is a kind of romanticism that’s very much of my French culture,” she says.

The fashion-forward offices of Agence Grateau (originally Savoir), the luxury marketing agency where Emily works, are some of the smartest sets on the show. Built on a soundstage with exteriors on Place des Valois, the Oscar-nominated Seibel looked to the work of Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, who is credited for revolutionizing the city plan and architecture of Paris in the 19^th century. Rooms with endlessly tall casement windows, elaborate crown moldings, high ceilings, and wrought iron balconies are remarkably detailed.

French blue walls provide the perfect backdrop for the office interiors, which mix both modern and classical elements. “It’s funny, everyone asks me about the color in the conference room,” says Seibel. “I mixed it myself and tried to match it with a Farrow and Ball color” (Cook’s Blue), though the end result was custom. “Emily’s little office is a very pale rose like the face powder your grandmother would wear,” while Sylvie is more brusque, so her office is a bit cold and features a pale palette. Since accessorizing with art is often challenging due to obtaining permissions, the designer framed pieces of fabric for a modern look. She sourced furnishings from a variety of places such as local antique dealers and online marketplaces to find the unique and unusual. The 3000-square-foot office set even has a functioning kitchen.

Seibel estimates she has created some 300 sets over the course of four seasons, including a variety of Paris locations along with Megève in the French Alps, Giverny, Camille’s home—Château de Sonnay in the Loire Valley, the Palace of Versailles, Chantilly, Villefranche-sur-Mer, and Paloma Beach in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, which stands in for the jet-set playground St. Tropez.

With chef Gabriel playing a pivotal love interest of Emily’s throughout all four seasons, restaurants play an essential supporting role in the show. Gabriel’s restaurant, L’Esprit de Gigi (called Chez Lavaux and Les Deux Compères in previous seasons) is a real-life Italian bistro in Paris called Terra Nera. Many scenes throughout the series take place in outdoor cafés, including the iconic Café de Flore, and this season even includes a visit to the real-life Michelin three-star restaurant L’Ambroisie.

The second half of the Season Four finds our heroine in Rome with a new love interest, polo player Marcello, perhaps setting up a new iteration—“Emily in Rome”? The Roman adventure begins with a travelogue as the couple tours the city on a Vespa, providing glimpses of the Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Roman Forum, and the Spanish Steps, to name a few. Channeling Audrey Hepburn, the scene is reminiscent of the classic 1953 film Roman Holiday, starring Hepburn as a princess gone AWOL and Gregory Peck as a journalist and guide to the Eternal City. Seibel notes that the similarity was intentional: “If you notice, Lily looks a lot like Hepburn.” Working with set decorator Alexandra Lassens, they also designed the sets for Marcello’s family home in “Solitano,”  which oozes old-world charm with antique furnishings.

Credit the production design for the ultimate escapism where viewers experience a romantic view of both cities with Anne Seibel as our tour guide. “Someone once told me I that ‘I make love to Paris,’ which is not hard to do. After doing the show for four seasons, I certainly know all the ins and outs of the city.”

The show may no doubt inspire a trip to Paris or Rome, so here are some of the most stunning Emily in Paris haunts from this season.

The Galerie-Musée Baccarat

The Masquerade Ball—inspired by Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball—in the Musée Baccarat is one of Seibel’s favorite sets—and Paris museums, specializing in crystal and glass. The designer reflects, “It’s an old home with a grand staircase and beautiful chandeliers that were great to set a party around. It’s a very iconic place and it was amazing to film there.” She also worked with the museum on the creation of a crystal objet for the show called “Heartbreak,” a take on Baccarat’s iconic crystal Coeur Amor.

Giverny

At Giverny, the home and gardens of Claude Monet, the Impressionist master’s fascination with water lilies resulted in 250 works depicting the pond and its reflective surfaces. The setting’s exquisitely picturesque backdrop includes Monet’s signature green, seen on the Japanese footbridge.

When the Emily in Paris scenes were being filmed here, it was out of season due to the writers’ strike, so Seibel and the Giverny gardeners had to recreate all the flowers in bloom using faux blossoms, including the wisteria draping romantically over the bridge.

Abbaye des Vaux-de-Cernay

Camille whisks Gabriel off to lunch at a beautiful restaurant in the countryside, Les Chasses, part of a 900-year-old Cistercian Abbey-turned-hotel about an hour’s drive southwest of Paris. Opened just a year ago, this steeped-in-history resort offers luxurious rooms, restaurants and bars including the monks’ rectory, and year-round activities across the Rothschilds’ former hunting grounds. (Statues from the Palace of Versailles were even hidden in the Abbey’s woods during World War II, under the nose of its German occupiers.)

Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen

Known as the Puces, the market is one of the largest antiques flea markets in Paris and one of the best. From vintage Hermès scarves and rare books to decorative furniture, silver and art, there is something for every taste. If you are a first-timer with an extensive shopping list, try hiring a guide from The Antiques Diva who knows all the nooks and crannies and can help with shipping. Located north of the 18^th arrondissement and open on weekends, be sure to check the market’s days and hours.

Megève, French Alps

Season Four finds Emily, Gabriel, Camille and her family spending the holidays in the village resort of Megève. Located in the heart of the Alps in Haute-Savoie, it is considered one of the French Alps’ best-kept secrets.  The producers fell in love with the car-free medieval farming town that boasts cobblestone streets and a thousand-year-old-church.

For the location’s key set, Seibel created the interiors of a chalet, complete with her own Christmas decorations, noting, “I made my own Christmas tree and hung all the photos on the wall of my family and friends. I needed to fill up the walls with art and asked my husband (who is an artist) to paint a painting, so it was like an exhibition!”

Ostia Antica

This ancient Roman port, about a 30-minute train ride outside of Rome, stands in for the fictional town of “Solitano,” where Marcello’s family lives. The ruins in Ostia Antica include a nearly 2,000-year-old ampitheater and black-and-white mosaics to rival Pompeii’s (be sure to see the bath of Neptune).

Hotel Eden, Rome

Emily’s time in Rome includes a stay at the Dorchester Collection’s Hotel Eden, in a luxurious suite overlooking the city. A fixture in the heart of Rome since 1889, the hotel is located near the Spanish Steps, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Villa Borghese gardens.

Watch Emily in Paris on Netflix.