The series of the week | The New Look: majestic and tragic

Series The New Lookcomposed of 10 episodes on Apple TV+, devours itself. Inspired by real events, it shows how Christian Dior and Coco Chanel experienced the Second World War, in Paris, during the German Occupation. A dark and extremely difficult period which marked both creators, each on their own.

Historical and complex drama

The New Look, it is the story of Christian Dior, who, after going through the horrors of war, decides to restore hope with the creation of a collection which has enjoyed resounding success around the world. “Your dresses have such a new look,” launched the magazine’s editor Harper’s Bazaar, Carmel Snow, February 12, 1947, after the first Dior fashion show. This is how the “New Look” was born.

Those who thought they would admire Dior’s haute couture dresses will be disappointed; it’s only at 10^e and last episode that will be discussed. The New Look is a complex and intense historical drama about the Second World War where we follow characters that we do not normally see when it comes to this conflict, namely the fashion designers Christian Dior and Coco Chanel, and their contemporaries, Lucien Lelong, Pierre Balmain and Cristobal Balenciaga.

The dark side of Chanel

The series shows the controversial side of Coco Chanel during the war and her collaboration with the Nazis, which will perhaps surprise those who were unaware of it. Coco Chanel, already famous for her fashion designs and perfume, the NOT^o 5, in 1921, closed his fashion house during the war, and continued to live at the Ritz, a hotel requisitioned by the Nazis during the Occupation. She becomes the mistress of Hans Günther von Dincklage, a German spy nicknamed Spatz, and succeeds in freeing her nephew André, a French soldier imprisoned by the Germans. She will also use her contacts with the Germans and assert “Aryan law” to try to take financial control of her perfume, because she only owned a small share. The series shows the long negotiation, which lasted years, with the Wertheimer brothers, who, being Jewish, took refuge in the United States during the war. Coco Chanel will also become the Nazi intermediary in a peace mission which will fail and will then take refuge in Switzerland at the end of the war.

Christian Dior, creation as a means of survival

For Christian Dior, creation during the war was a “means of survival”. The latter was a designer at Lucien Lelong, one of the great Parisian fashion houses of the time which continued to make dresses during the war. He lives with his younger sister, Catherine, a resistance fighter who was kidnapped and tortured by the Gestapo, then deported to a concentration camp in Germany. Dior is terribly angry with himself for having let his sister be captured by the Nazis and he will do everything to find her, which also gives moments of great emotion. The series shows Christian Dior as a discreet and reserved man, who hesitated for a long time before launching his fashion house, because he wants to put all his energy into his efforts to find his sister. He also has painful memories of the reversal of fortune of his father, who had a successful business and who was ruined following the crisis of 1929.

Brilliant cast

The New Look is a creation of Todd A. Kessler, co-writer of the excellent series Damage (with Glenn Close). Series is also constructed a bit like a thriller; we often hold our breath during the episodes, some very intense, where we wonder in particular if Christian Dior’s sister will be found or if Coco Chanel, arrogant and tormented, will emerge from her descent into hell. Visually, the series is magnificent and the sets and costumes are very neat, as is the international cast. Juliette Binoche as Coco Chanel is truly extraordinary and offers an interpretation full of finesse. Ben Mendelsohn, for his part, is very touching and fair in Christian Dior. There is also John Malkovich who plays the fashion designer Lucien Lelong; Maisie Williams is Catherine Dior, Glenn Close plays Carmel Snow, the editor of Harper’s BazaarClaes Bang is the German spy, and Zabou Breitman plays Madame Zehnacker, Christian Dior’s right-hand woman.

The New Look is a series to watch. It makes us better understand why Christian Dior needed so much to forget the austerity of the dark days by celebrating an ultra-feminine silhouette, with a cinched waist and flying skirts. The desire to create a New World with its New Look was stronger than him, just like that of throwing perfume, Miss Diorin homage to his sister.

The New Look is featured on Apple TV+. The first three episodes are online from this Wednesday, February 14, then it will be at the rate of one episode per week, every Wednesday until April 3.