GLAMOUR UK – On- and off-screen BFFs Lily Collins and Ashley Park, AKA Emily and Mindy in Emily in Paris, talk to GLAMOUR’s Emily Maddick about the power, pleasure and pitfalls of friendship as they become our January cover stars.

Lily Collins and Ashley Park – co-stars on the wildly successful Emily In Paris – are unanimous: their friendship has taught them both to believe in themselves in ways that they never thought they could.

“Ashley’s a friend who makes you feel like being you is enough. She gives you what you need when you don’t even know it yourself,” Lily tells me, while Ashley reveals, “Lily has made sure that I understand my own value… she has believed in me in ways I didn’t believe I deserved.”

And these are not just the gushings of Hollywood actresses fawning over their peers, but legitimate testaments to a true and beautiful friendship fostered both on – and off-screen. As stars of the Netflix juggernaut that is Emily In Paris, Lily, 32, and Ashley, 30, have found themselves in a show that puts the trials and tribulations of female friendship front and centre of the action.

So, who better to front our January friendship issue?

We’re a long way from Paris when I meet Lily and Ashley on location for their GLAMOUR shoot, in a disused parking lot in sun-drenched downtown Los Angeles in November. And while this may be as far away from the Champs-Élysées chic environs we’re used to seeing the girls in, the fashion most certainly is not. LA super-stylist, Nicolas Bru, has called in haute couture from Giambattista Valli and eye-popping creations from Sonia Rykiel and Richard Quinn – all exquisite gowns that would make even Emily In Paris’s legendary costume designer, Patricia Field, swoon.

As the shoot progresses, Lily and Ashley’s chemistry is electric, their laughter infectious and they do not stop to draw breath; apart from, that is, when I catch up with them individually over lunch for their respective cover interviews…

When it comes to female friendship, Lily’s character Emily Cooper finds herself in a très sticky situation at the start of season two. (Spoilers incoming.)

Having learned that her dishy neighbour, chef Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) is leaving Paris – and therefore breaking the heart of his long-term girlfriend and Emily’s good friend and client, Camille (Camille Razat) – Emily finally succumbs to their chemistry and a ‘farewell’ night of passion. Only to discover the next day that Gabriel is staying in Paris after all. What transpires is Emily trying to make amends for her mistake while attempting to prioritise – and salvage – her friendship with Camille. It is brave to have the plot focus on a female protagonist who has betrayed her friend and I wonder what Lily’s own take is on this moral dilemma?

“Emily definitely has deep-rooted feelings and regrets about what happened because she does feel really badly about it,” says Lily. “And it wouldn’t cause her so much turmoil if she didn’t care. And so I think, whenever something affects me so deeply or troubles me, it’s because I care. And that’s a good thing, but it makes it way harder because when you’re conscious of something… and now you know you have to do something about it; what do I do?”

Lily agrees with me when I say that I found female friendship front and centre of season two.

“Emily ultimately really values her friendships. And [in] season two, she really leans into the female friendships, which is something that I really was excited about pursuing more of.”

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