Emma Chamberlain On Her Style Evolution & Growing Love Of Interiors

If anyone’s had a whirlwind few days, it’s Emma Chamberlain. “God knows what I’m saying [right now],” she jokes over the phone from her home in Beverly Hills. But who could blame the OG YouTuber for nearing exhaustion? Just 72 hours prior to our call, fashion insiders — including The Zoe Report’s editor-at-large, Rachel Zoe — were in complete awe of her colorful Mugler confection at the 2026 Met Gala, where she topped best-dressed lists. Days later, she was back in Los Angeles for yesterday’s opening of Chamberlain Coffee’s first standalone café on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice. “It’s been a long week,” Chamberlain admits. Still, her upbeat tone made it clear that she’s still riding a high from both occasions.

Indeed, Chamberlain generated major buzz for her custom look on Monday evening. “After seeing his debut at fashion week, my stylist Jared [Ellner] and I fell in love with his work,” she says of Mugler’s new creative director, Miguel Castro Freitas, who designed the gown. (The piece — hand-painted by artist Anna Deller-Yee — took 40 hours to complete.) The night before presenting his inaugural Spring/Summer 2026 line, Chamberlain met Freitas at a Vogue cocktail party, where they hit it off immediately. She and Ellner floated the idea of a Met Gala collaboration, and his team was quick to get on board.

When bringing the dress to life, Chamberlain drew from her roots — with a professional painter for a dad, the influence came naturally. “I have a relationship with paintings, particularly oil and watercolor,” she shares. “We discussed how we wanted the piece to sit on my body and what we wanted it to convey. After talking for hours, he came back with a sketch. We loved it immediately, made two or three small tweaks, and then we were off to the races.”

While Chamberlain has started to solidify her personal style in recent years, she was firmly in an experimental phase when she first launched her YouTube channel in 2017 — think miniskirts and hair scrunchies in the then-16-year-old’s wardrobe. “As you evolve as a person, your style inevitably evolves,” she says. “I don’t think I’ve discovered my final form by any means, but that evolution has definitely slowed. Now, as I grow, my style grows with me.”

One thing that has remained constant, however, is her penchant for secondhand shopping. “Thrifting is really cool because there’s no curation,” she explains. “It’s a random, jumbled mess, and you kind of have to have a point of view in that shopping experience to leave with pieces you’ll actually wear.” For her vintage fix, Chamberlain favors James Veloria and What Goes Around Comes Around in New York City, as well as shops on the East Side of Los Angeles. Her end goal? A wardrobe built on rare, one-of-a-kind designer vintage.

These days, Chamberlain steers clear of fleeting trends, opting instead for pieces that genuinely spark joy. “If I do end up wearing something that’s trendy, it’s not because it’s trendy — it’s because I genuinely like it,” she says, adding that lately she can’t stop wearing a red bandana and vintage black boots, in particular.

Meanwhile, she’s become a regular on the fashion week circuit, often spotted in the front row. “It’s such a blessing to see the shows in real time,” she gushes. When it comes to assembling her headline-making looks, Chamberlain leans into each brand’s world. “I like shape-shifting and becoming a character,” she says of dressing for fashion week. Perhaps the best part, she adds, is the freedom to experiment. “It’s not like I’m committing to these pieces for my wardrobe forever.”

Chamberlain may be known for her quirky-cool fashion sense, but her passion for interior design is just as noteworthy — one that’s an extension of her love for all art forms, according the social media star. “Interior design, fashion, music, movies ... there’s a relationship between all of those things,” she says. She’s long had an eye for interiors, with her interest developing as a slow burn over time.

Hot on the heels of her buzzy West Elm collaboration, Chamberlain opened the aforementioned Abbot Kinney café for Chamberlain Coffee, which she designed alongside Marie Trohman and Ashley Drost of Proem Studio — the duo behind her Los Angeles home. “I trust them with my whole heart,” she says of the team. The influencer provided Trohman and Drost with a mood board and a few loose guidelines for the space. Chamberlain took a similar approach to her home, which went viral after being featured on Architectural Digest in 2022. Like many of us, she relied on Pinterest to spark inspiration, collecting imagery over the years. “I had a gut instinct about what would work, and leaning on the professionals was also helpful because they can round it out and make it realistic,” Chamberlain adds.

Among her favorite elements of Chamberlain Coffee’s new shop are the marble countertops, which mirror those in her own kitchen, as do the sage green walls —a bold choice she says was well worth it. “I feel like I’m in a New York diner, and the outside feels very European,” she adds about the new space.

Sure, it may have been an especially busy few days, but Chamberlain shows no signs of slowing down. With her track record, her next move — whether in fashion or interiors — is bound to make waves.