Lily Collins, daughter of music legend Phil Collins, has built an impressive acting career on her own terms with Emily in Paris, Mirror Mirror, and To the Bone. A Golden Globe nominee and Lancôme ambassador, she blends Old Hollywood glamour with modern Parisian chic. Collins frequently elevates her red-carpet looks with sophisticated sunglasses that echo the timeless elegance of her on-screen style.
Being the daughter of a global music icon could have easily defined — or derailed — Lily Collins, but the British-American actor has spent her career proving she is far more than Phil Collins's daughter. Born in Guildford, England, in 1989, Collins moved to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents' divorce. She began writing as a teenager, contributing to Seventeen, Teen Vogue, and the Los Angeles Times, before turning her focus to acting. Her breakthrough came in 2012 when she starred as Snow White in the fantasy film Mirror Mirror opposite Julia Roberts, marking her arrival as a leading lady.
Collins demonstrated dramatic range in the 2017 Netflix film To the Bone, for which she lost a significant amount of weight to portray a young woman battling anorexia — a role she approached with personal insight, having struggled with eating disorders herself. She later chronicled these experiences in her memoir Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me. In 2020, she took on the role that would introduce her to a global streaming audience: Emily Cooper in Netflix's Emily in Paris, created by Darren Star. The series became a cultural phenomenon, earning Collins a Golden Globe nomination and spawning multiple seasons that follow Emily's adventures in marketing, fashion, and romance in the French capital.
Collins's fashion profile has risen in lockstep with her acting career. As a Lancôme ambassador since 2013, she regularly appears in the brand's global campaigns, embodying a brand of beauty that is polished, romantic, and unmistakably French in its sensibility. Her red-carpet appearances — often at the Met Gala, the Cannes Film Festival, and Paris Fashion Week — are studied by fashion editors worldwide. She favors designers like Chanel, Givenchy, and Elie Saab, gravitating toward pieces that balance drama with delicacy.
Off the red carpet, Collins's street-style choices are no less considered. She is often photographed in Parisian-coded outfits complete with berets, tailored coats, and striking sunglasses that lean toward cat-eye and oval silhouettes — shapes that recall mid-century film stars while feeling entirely current. Her eyewear choices have become a talking point among fashion commentators, who note how seamlessly her frames complement both haute-couture gowns and casual café looks. Married to filmmaker Charlie McDowell since 2021, Collins continues to split her time between Los Angeles and Paris, cultivating a transatlantic identity that informs both her work and her wardrobe. As Emily in Paris continues and new film projects emerge, Collins remains one of her generation's most consistently watchable — and watched — actors.
