They are wondering, in the rooms she shared at Brown University on Rhode Island, what their most famous student plans to do with her ‘things’.
A jumble of books and clothes — cream Prada pumps, suede Louboutin platforms and piles of Agnes B casual wear — remain. The girls in her dorm, who include Scout Willis, the daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, expect she will send someone to pack.
They are already saying how much they will miss Emma Watson, the unᴀssuming star of the Harry Potter films, who bunked down in a single bed in a shared room for the past year and a half.
Height of fashion: Emma is the new face of Lancome and is currently filming an advert for them in Paris
She started studying history at the college in September 2009, and was on course to complete her degree in 2013. That has been deferred, she says just by a few terms, though many believe she won’t be back at all.
And the reason, it seems, is that Emma — 21 next month — is confident she can put the Potter films behind her and become a star in her own right.
This week, it was announced she has been anointed the face of Lancome, succeeding Julia Roberts. It is a huge role that will not only net her millions, but ensure her face is on billboards all over the world. Lancome said: ‘Emma Watson has become the icon of her generation.’
She is emerging from her shell. After a couple of years of uncertainty, Emma no longer feels crushed by her £30 million wealth or embarrᴀssed by her success.
Coming out of her shell: The actress is beginning to embrace stardom and has taken a break from her studies for more modelling and film roles
When she first found out how much money she had made, aged 18, she says she felt physically sick. It seems it has taken her all this time to get used to it.
After ten years of playing Hermione Granger and, she says, sacrificing her childhood and normality on the altar of the Warner Bros agenda, she was ready to give it all up. That, though, has changed.
She’s learning to enjoy the pleasures of success. You’ll see her taking a spa break with friends in Thailand and propping up the bar in top London clubs.
Recognition: The actress at the Elle Style Awards where she was named ‘Style Icon’ of the year
Home is a £3 million pad in North London, where her Toyota Prius is proudly parked outside.
She has had cookery lessons from celebrity chef Joel Robuchon as she is tired of paying caterers for her dinner parties. It’s all rather grand.
Her friends are starting to include the glitterati, and she has shown a particular interest in making an impression on all of the more important people in fashion, such as Burberry’s Christopher Bailey and Antoine Arnault, son of LVMH (Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton) boss Bernard. She’ll soon shoot a campaign for Joel Robuchon with Mario Testino.
Impact on sales: Emma’s participation in a Burberry ad campaign saw demand go up for their trench coats
One who knows her socially said that all her friends know to never mention Harry Potter. ‘She pulls a bad smell face if you even say the name,’ she said.
Come Bafta season this year, she was the most flirtatious of all the starlets, parading in a series of carefully chosen outfits, and working the room at the best parties.
Film mogul Harvey Weinstein, the man who helped to make the careers of Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett, was among those she dazzled.
‘For ten years she has been this schoolgirl in the Harry Potter films and now you see her as a woman for the first time,’ he said.
‘She has an elegance about her — she looks like Jean Shrimpton — plus she has a gift for comedy and drama, and we’re just starting to see her range. I feel we’re going to work together a lot in the future.’
