Lily Collins is sitting in front of a plate of pastel-coloured macarons in a private suite at Le Bristol in Paris’ 8th arrondissement. If it weren’t for her elegantly understated outfit – she is dressed in an oversize beige Max Mara trench layered over a simple rollneck jumper, with a vintage Cartier watch on one wrist – I could easily mistake this for a scene from Emily in Paris, the phenomenally successful Netflix series that has propelled her to new heights of fame.

"Got to give people what they want," she says cheerfully, gesturing towards the macarons. The show, as Collins knows, does exactly that: when it arrived on our screens in October 2020, just ahead of the second national lockdown, it felt like exactly the balm we all needed, offering the promise of life and laughter against the bleakest of backdrops. "It came out during a time when travel wasn’t possible, so we craved that escapism even more," says Collins. "The city is a character in itself – Paris is just so beautiful to look at." Even the French, who were vocal in their critique of the first series, with its comedic portrayal of Parisian foibles, have come to embrace a drama that conjures up the romance of their capital better than any tourism brochure. "When we went back to film the second season, people would just come up to us on the street and say, 'Thank you for the show – thank you for making us smile'," she recalls. (Indeed, during our shoot the next day, the Bazaar team cause quite a stir outside the hotel, with progress somewhat hampered by the numbers of passing locals stopping to watch the scene unfold.) What does she make of the few remaining sceptics who turn up their nose at the series? "Oh gosh, I mean, I think the fact it’s gone on for three seasons means enough people are loving it to binge on it… and even if you want not to like it, you’re probably bingeing too!"

Dress, Valentino; sandals, Saint Laurent; bag, Cartier

If Collins sounds impressively mature in her outlook, that’s because she has learnt how to be. Born in Guildford, Surrey, to the musician Phil Collins and his American second wife Jill Tavelman, she moved to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents’ divorce in 1996, when she was six years old. Celebrity was a concept she understood, and mostly took in her stride, from a young age: her first onscreen appearance came at the age of two, in the BBC sitcom Growing Pains, although it was not until 2009, in the midst of her undergraduate degree at the University of Southern California (in broadcast journalism – a path to which she gave serious consideration before her acting career took off), that she secured her breakthrough film role, as the daughter of Sandra Bullock’s character in the box-office hit The Blind Side. By that point, she had endured a series of disheartening auditions for parts she was "devastated" not to get. "I got told no many, many times," she says now, "but I knew it would make that first yes even better." She has since starred alongside the great and the good of Hollywood, appearing opposite Julia Roberts in Mirror, Mirror, Annette Bening in Rules Don’t Apply (for which she received her first Golden Globe nomination) and Tilda Swinton in the Netflix film Okja. In Les Misérables, she brought viewers to tears as an anguished Fantine; and in 2019’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, she delivered a subtle and nuanced performance as the serial killer Ted Bundy’s longtime girlfriend.

Top and skirt, Schiaparelli; gloves, Dolce & Gabbana; earrings and bracelet, Cartier; hat, vintage

Yet despite the breadth of her back catalogue, it is the character of Emily Cooper that viewers worldwide have taken to their hearts. "I get called Emily all the time, especially when I’m out on the street in Paris," admits Collins. "I’ll hear her name screamed at me – it’s wild." Returning to the character for each new season is, she says, like stepping into the shoes of a close friend. "Emily is a constant optimist, so it’s a lovely, familiar feeling playing her," she says. "I think having her in my life has really helped me… I like that she’s unapologetically herself." Other cast members may get the best lines (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu has become something of a cult figure as Sylvie, Emily’s brusque – and extremely stylish – French boss), but Collins’ quirky charm is what anchors the series and gives it its soul.

I get called Emily all the time, especially when I’m out on the street in Paris

Then, of course, there is the fabulously eccentric fashion that Collins, with her modelling experience – she is, among other roles, an ambassador for Cartier’s Panthère leather-goods collection – wears with such panache; a highlight of the latest season, she says, was the Dolce & Gabbana ensemble Emily selects for the fictional fashion designer Pierre Cadault’s retrospective – a zebra-print top with enormous, wing-like shoulders paired with black micro-shorts. Though Collins herself is unlikely to step out in quite such a bold get-up, she acknowledges that her character’s style has rubbed off on her. "I take new risks because of Emily, whether that’s with colour palette, texture, print or shape – she helps me branch out and try new things."

Jacket, Patou; skirt, Jacquemus; earrings, Cartier

Jacket, Jacquemus; earrings, watch and ring, Cartier

Collins has not always been as comfortable with her appearance as she is today. From her teens through to her early twenties, she suffered from bouts of anorexia and bulimia, and although she was never hospitalised with the illness, the road to recovery was long. In 2017, she published a collection of personal essays, Unfiltered, in which she shared the story of her battle with food, predominantly with the intention of helping other young women who might be going through the same pain – "people who are at their most impressionable, who don’t think they can talk about these things or who feel they’re alone". Working on the book was also, she says, a cathartic experience that has made her stronger in herself, while capable of giving more sensitive performances as an actress. "I needed to let go of some baggage so that I could better take on the baggage of characters I was playing," she explains, referring in particular to her interpretation of a 20-year-old anorexia patient in the film To the Bone, which came out in the same year as her memoir. "I’d been writing my chapter on the subject when I got the script, and I was finalising the book as I finished shooting, so it was a weird experience where one informed the other," says Collins. She went public about her eating disorder just ahead of the film release, and says that it was "a breath of fresh air" to finally speak out: "I was able to heal new ways and just feel freer."

Dress, Celine; earrings, bag and sunglasses, Cartier

I needed to let go of some baggage so that I could better take on the baggage of my characters

That healing process seems to have liberated her to take control of her career, allowing her to explore different sides of herself and take on new roles. Accepting the part of Emily was a conscious decision to enter the mainstream, following a run of smaller indie projects. "A lot of the work I’d been doing was less 'pop culture', more left-of-centre, quietly confident material, so I wanted to find something that was grounded in the world of romantic comedy – but it had to be the right thing," she explains.

Playing the character has felt "refreshing", but it certainly doesn’t signal the end of her interest in creating experimental work; in fact, she sees her future involving almost as much time behind the camera as in front. "I wanted to be a producer before I even knew what the word meant – I’ve always been inquisitive about the writing, the casting and the development process," she says. "I understand I’m not the right person to tell, or be the face of, every story, and I don’t want to be, but I do want to be a conduit for other people to do that." Together with her husband, the American film director and screenwriter Charlie McDowell, and the respected indie producer Alex Orlovsky, she runs a production company called Case Study Films that aims to foster new talent and provide a platform for fresh voices. "It gives me an opportunity to balance out the Emily of it all," she says.

Jacket, Celine; hat, Maison Michel; rings, Cartier

It isn’t the first time the trio have worked together; they previously collaborated on the 2021 film Windfall, a Hitchcockian thriller directed by McDowell and starring Collins alongside Jesse Plemons and Jason Segel. At the time of filming, Collins and McDowell were engaged and in the process of planning their wedding. "There may have been occasional questions about it during the day… you know, this menu or that menu," she says, chuckling. (If you didn’t pore over the pictures of their weekend-long marriage celebrations in Dunton Hot Springs, Colorado, with the bride in an ethereal lace hooded dress by Ralph Lauren, you must have stayed off Instagram last summer.) Most of the time, though, Collins says they were able to separate their personal and professional lives. "It was quite seamless because Charlie treated all the cast the same way – he’s very much an actor’s director," she observes. "There were times I forgot he was my fiancé, because we had such a creative rapport."

Jacket and skirt, Celine; hat, Maison Michel; rings, Cartier; tights, Wolford

Romantically as well as creatively, the pair are still in their honeymoon period: during our shoot, Collins frequently reaches for her phone to text screenshots of the pictures to her husband, and she speaks with a slight wistfulness about the time they spend together when she isn’t on set. "We love doing road trips together or just going on walks and hikes with our dog Redford – he’s a terrier-mix and we miss him so much when he’s gone," she says. (No wonder she lavishes so much affection on the Le Bristol’s cat-in-residence Socrate, her co-star in Bazaar’s shoot.) She is evidently in the process of figuring out the right balance between work and life; her career is flourishing, but she also has plans of her own. "Of course, I’d love to have a family," she says. "So there’s the personal, the work, there’s the blending of the two… It’s always a juggle, but I want it to be – I want to be able to do all the things I enjoy. The key thing is finding out what makes sense for us, especially in terms of travel, whether that’s living in the States or somewhere else." Home is currently Los Angeles, and she spends parts of the year filming in Paris, but it is Scandinavia to which she and her husband find themselves most drawn; they visited Copenhagen and Swedish Lapland together after their wedding, and she describes Denmark as a place she can imagine them creating "roots of our own".

Top, skirt and shoes, Schiaparelli; hat, vintage; gloves, Dolce & Gabbana; bracelet and earrings, Cartier

Until the time comes to put down those roots, Collins is enjoying the opportunity for a breather between projects. "I’m on a bit of a break right now where I’m just focusing on being at home and being able to plan ahead, or even not having to plan at all," she says. "I could so easily just go, go, go, but I also know I’m not a robot, and I need to take time to stop and reflect and remember I’m a human." She pauses briefly, then leans forward, suddenly re-energised. "I’m still fighting for things I want, though, because you know what, I like to fight for what I believe in." Emily Cooper might have won over the French, but Lily Collins is taking on the world.

Dress and sandals, Saint Laurent; bracelet and rings, Cartier

Photographer Luc Braquet
Stylist Tania Rat Patron
Editor Sarah Karmali
Picture director Sian Parry
Hair Mike Désir
Make-up Aurélie Payen
Interview Frances Hedges
Videographer Pierre Beyres
Shot on location at Le Bristol, Paris.

Videographer: Boulawayne