Elle UK interview.

There are some glamorous nights out, but so far they’ve proved to be the exception rather than the rule. “I had a really great night after the Bafta; I’ve never stayed out that late before. We went to the Double Club in Islington. It’s got this great, relaxed atmosphere and it’s really arty” You wore Temperley London…”Yes. The head of costume here said. ‘You were doing so well, dressing so young and then you pull out this long black Temperley dress- what were you thinking?’ But it was the Bafta’s. You have to wear full-length-there are rules [Shrugs] I liked it, I thought it was a bit bohemian.
“Doing well is something of an understatement when it comes to the recent improvement in Emma’s wardrobe, “I’d always gone and bought my premiere clothes myself with my mum, but no one designs premiere dress for 12-years-old girls. I’d be in Harrods and my mother-would be like, ‘Take that off, you look like you’re going to a wedding.’” That all change though, thanks to a certain Mr. Karl Lagerfeld
“Before the fourth (fifth?) premiere, I’d just signed up for the model agency Storm, and they called me to say. ‘Chanel would love to lend you clothes.’ I was so excited.” Her relationship with Lagerfeld as well [as the seemingly steady stream of Chanel clothing at her disposal, the two have met a few times, including a photoshoot in Lagerfeld own studio] has done much to elevate Emma’s status in style circles, although both parties have ……..(?) denied the persistent rumours that she is to become a face of the brand. Unrivalled at unearthing future fashion stars; can Lagerfeld explain what it is that is so special about her? “I always expect her to be unexpected” he says. “She is really natural in her way to be. She doesn’t have to think about her style.”
“Karl’s so nice” Emma complements right back. “When he photographed me, we talked about books and literature, he knows so much it’s intimidating. He has this bookshop in Paris and you have to go through it [to get to the studio], I could spend days in there. He told me that he doesn’t keep his books in any kind of order because that way he finds books he’s forgotten about when he’s looking for something else.”
But there’s been less Chanel of late, more now, edgy labels such as the short, sexed-up, see-through paneled William Tempest dress that so impressed at The Tale of Dexparaux premiere. “I’m young and ideally, I want to wear young designers who are coming up with new and interesting ideas,” she says “I first saw William at Fashion Fringe [in March 2009] Alexa [Chung] was sat to my left and we both loved William’s show, but he didn’t win – he was robbed!”
During the autumn/winter 2009 shows, the ELLE team grew accustomed to finding Emma front row, noting a geometric-print Giambatista Valli dress here, a silver Chanel bomber jacket there. “I love the spectacle of it [the front row]. The show I enjoyed the most were Christopher Kane and Giles Deacon.” Both were on the London schedule-a coincidence? “There was a really great energy about the London shows and I felt so much more comfortable there. I literally got the Tube, walked from the Tube station to the venue with my stepmum and then walked straight to my seat. In Paris, as soon as I got out of my car I was hounded, I couldn’t even walk. In London I felt like I was there to see the clothes, but in Paris…I just didn’t realize how full-on it was going to be, I don’t think I’d ever do that again. I’ll stick to London and one or two key shows like Christopher Kane, I loved Christopher Kane. I actually met him before the show and he is so sweet, so down to earth.” The designers themselves seem just as taken with Emma. Kane describes meeting her at a fashion event before the pair headed off to party at Bungalow 8. “We had a lot of fun” he says, “Emma reminds me of stars like Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. She has a touch of “Lotita” charm combined with sophistication beyond her years. She always looks flawless.” William Tempest agrees, “She definitely has a quality of old Hollywood about her-very elegant and sophisticated but fashion forward at the same time.” So taken in Burberry’s creative director, Christopher Bailey, that the actress is the only woman to appear in the label’s always impressively cast advertising campaign this season, “Emma was the obvious choice,” says Bailey. “She has a classic beauty, a great character and a modern edge.”
It’s fair to say that the thorny issue of public perception is one that Emma has given a good deal of thought to. Yet, there’s an element of typical teenager, prone to weighting up the meaning of life, the universe and everything. But for a woman who centered the collective consciousness at an earlier age than Britney, Lily or even the more recent Miley, she’s surprisingly switched (?) on. “I don’t want other people to decide who I am. I want to decide that for myself. I want to avoid becoming too styled and too “done” and too generic. You see people as they go through their career and they just become more and more like everyone else. They start out with something individual about them but it gets lost. Natalie Portman is an exception. I’m in awe of how she’s handled herself. And Agyness Deyn is cool, really individual. Her style isn’t necessarily mine, but I respect that she is retaining her own look.”
Emma’s image has been fairly one-dimensionally portrayed, conjuring up preconception of a smart, reserved public schoolgirl; in other words, a real-life Hermione. “I don’t think I am as black and white as [the media] like to make me out. I’m not you classic public schoolgirl because I’ve been brought up here, in Wartford. And I’ve met and worked with people from a million different backgrounds. Everyone’s going to think different things about me and I can’t control that. You can please everyone. And that’s something that I’m learning. I’m so desperate to please people and for people to like me that in a way I feel like I’m not cut out for this business. At the moment I’m really aware of what people think I should do and what looks like the right thing to do; the kind of expected path I should be taking. It’s hard having that kind of pressure, that weight of expectation. But I’m going to try to do what I want to do and what’s right for me and put other people’s opinions to the back of the picture.”
Two opinions she will be taking into account are those of her parents. Both lawyers, they separated when Emma was five, and she divided her childhood between their homes and the Watford studio, Emma has one younger brother, Alex and twin half-sisters who played the roles of the Fossils babies in 2007’s adaptation of Noel Strafford’s Ballet Shoes, Emma’s first non-Potter project. The set-up sound more than civil, with Emma referring regularly to all the members of the family. She’s saving her clothes to pass on to the twins and supplements her own wardrobe with pieces from both her mother and stepmother’s closets. “My stepmother has these great thigh-length leather boots, but she’ll only let me borrow them if I’m really nice,” she smiles. Her parent’s example is undoubtedly an influence on Emma’s decision to pursue university rather than line up the next acting role. “Both my parents were lawyers, academics I didn’t watch film. My dad didn’t like TV. I never really had idols growing up or poster on my wall. I guess the Spice Girls were as near as I ever got to that.”
Despite her misgiving about the ending of this film juggernaut that has been her life for so long, Emma is clearly itching to taste to corresponding freedom. “AT the moment I feel like I need to go away and figure out what I want to do and be myself for a bit,” she says. “Does that sound strange? I need university to give me that break. People think because I’m going to university I’m never going to act again, but it’s actually me…I want to…figure out how I feel about everything first. Maybe I’ll keep acting, maybe I won’t. I just want to find something where I feel I have to do this. Maybe that’ll happen when I read a script. It felt like that with Hermione, I want to feel like that again.”
With that, Emma’s off. She’s already resisted the prompting of her assistant for the past 15 minutes and she has an urgent appointment with Harry and Ron on Totterham Court Road. Who’s that girl? She’s a woman who may not know exactly what she want just yet, but is certainly on her way.