Kanika Kumar
Diving deep into Emily Cooper’s life, Netflix’s ‘Emily in Paris’ is a humorous and glamorous exploration of an American marketing executive’s misadventures in Paris. The Darren Star series mixes Emily’s professional relations with her personal ones to give us a highly entertaining romantic comedy.
As Emily tries her best to excel at her job, she socializes with a bunch of new people — most of them are celebrities intimately familiar with the City of Love. Thus, we see our excitable American interacting with French fashion designers, perfumers, entrepreneurs, chefs, and actors. In season 2, Emily meets Grégory Elliot Duprée, a striking figure who is quite famous and has some history with the elderly Pierre Cadault. So, who is Grégory after all? And what’s his deal with Pierre? Don’t worry, we’ve got the answers you’re looking for. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Who is Grégory Elliot Duprée in Emily in Paris?
We first meet Grégory Elliot Duprée in episode 2 of season 2, when Emily arrives at the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat in St. Tropez; she’s without Mathieu Cadault but plans to enjoy the trip he paid for anyway. When she walks into the lobby with her Rimowa suitcase featuring Pierre Cadault’s face, Grégory, a fashion designer, immediately comes over to her and gushes over her luggage. An excited Emily mentions that she’s a huge fan of Grégory’s.
After Emily tells him about the possible collaboration between Rimowa and Pierre, Grégory asks her to take a few pictures of him with the suitcase. “You must take a photo of me with it. Must, must, must. Pierre will die,” says Grégory. He then goes on to explain that he and Pierre spent 10 years working together “at that [Pierre Cadault] atelier,” “chain-smoking with our seamstresses” and “hand-beading Tilda’s jumpsuits for La Croisette.” When Grégory posts the photo online, it goes viral.
Emily believes it will be good for brand engagement. However, she is mistaken. Mathieu calls Emily and orders her to take the photo down. In the background, we see Pierre raging over Grégory’s picture. Still clueless, Emily then receives a call from Julien. “This is a nightmare! Grégory is Pierre’s nemesis,” he exclaims. Emily, although aware of all the celebrities, clearly doesn’t know, well enough, the intricate relationships amongst French fashion designers.
Additionally, it’s not surprising that some fashion designers dislike each other. The industry is competitive and chaotic — often, artistic relationships don’t last very long due to personal disagreements. Grégory clearly wants to ruffle Pierre’s feathers by publicly posing with products the older designer is associated with.
Why Are Grégory and Pierre Cadault Enemies?
Julien then goes to Pierre Cadault’s office to fix the Grégory situation. We find out that the rivalry between the two designers is well known in the French fashion world. “This was a calculated attack. He [Grégory] knew what he was doing,” Pierre grumbles. The fact that the Rimowa picture is on Grégory’s social media account implies that neither the luggage brand nor Pierre will benefit from the views and likes that are pouring in simply due to the designers’ famous feud. Julien begs Pierre and Mathieu not to respond defensively — doing so will only make them look weak and small.
Later, Emily runs into Grégory’s yacht, docked somewhere in St. Tropez. She immediately calls him a liar who almost made her lose her job. “Oh, I’m so sorry. But Pierre savaged my first show for Balmain, and when I saw his fat face on the side of that suitcase, I decided to give him a review of my own,” Grégory explains. Thus, it seems as though when Grégory, Pierre’s protégé, branched out on his own in the fashion world and worked on his first big show, his former mentor couldn’t stand his independence (interpreting it as betrayal) and bad-mouthed his designs.
Later, after Emily’s boss Madeline arrives from Chicago, she forces Savoir to bag Grégory as a client despite the fact that it’s a conflict of interest to have him alongside Pierre on their roster. Thus, since Grégory has a big show coming up and his previous marketing agency left him due to his tantrums, Julien and Emily track the designer down at a gay bar and convince him to shift over to Savoir; Emily even tells him to have a theme — “Let Them Eat Cake” — for his show. Sylvie also suggests that Grégory can invite Pierre to the show so that they may sort out their differences once and for all.
During Grégory’s show at Versailles, Pierre shows up in a show-stopping costume, complete with a train featuring his logo, fitting the theme of the event. Although the audience gasps and expects a fight, Grégory exclaims, “You magnificent bitch. Long live the King!” Thus, both designers clear the air and rekindle their friendship. This development is also in line with Pierre’s recent attempts to make his brand younger and more energetic — he starts to embrace contemporary ideas and the world of up-and-coming fashion designers.
Fans must remember how he crashed Grey Space’s show in season 1 and then started wearing their merchandise; clearly, he’s changing for the better. Later, we find out from Sylvie, Julien, and Luc that Grégory is ready to hire their new company only if Emily leaves Savoir and joins their team. So, we will definitely see more of this flamboyant designer in the future and he’s guaranteed to interact with the likes of Pierre as well.
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