Against all expectations, this series offers a somewhat epic history lesson rather than a fashion lesson, a sort of A
French Village
among the great couturiers.
The New Look
delves back into the torments of the Second World War to explain where, in 1947, the creative genius of Christian Dior's avant-garde collection sprang from, carried by a breath of life, a desire to bring back joy and freedom in a France shattered by the Occupation.
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After a quick prologue taking place during a conference at the Sorbonne in 1955, the series goes back in time to Paris in 1943. Christian Dior was then just one of the talented couturiers among others working in the service of the Lelong house, alongside Cristobal Balenciaga and Pierre Balmain.
But his mind is elsewhere, consumed by worry.
Her beloved younger sister, Catherine (Maisie Williams,
Game of Thrones
), participates in the Resistance and risks deportation on each mission.
Her devotion contrasts with the businessism of Coco Chanel.
Although she had closed her fashion house at the outbreak of war against the Third Reich, the designer maintained an affair with a Nazi diplomat, “Spatz”, and tried to take advantage of her connections to recover ownership of her perfumes from the hands of Jewish associates.
At the Liberation, his position will be more than precarious.
Iconic dresses
Screenwriter of thrillers
(Damages, Blood lines),
Todd A. Kessler had the idea for this series, which takes him out of his comfort zone, after reading an article in the
New York Times
in 1997 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Dior house.
“I realized how much of a crucible World War II had been for these stylists.
We revere their brands, but ignore their genesis.
This period of collective trauma, which is not without echoes of the one we have just gone through with Covid, has nourished, as in many areas, their resilience and pushed them to reimagine beauty and hope.
1947 was also a turning point when Coco Chanel had to cede her throne to a new generation.
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For a decade, the American devoured dozens of works.
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“The sources on Chanel are much more numerous,”
notes the one who has crossed each piece of information at least twice.
Todd A. Kessler also worked with former
L'Officiel
editor Caroline Bongrand.
The influence of the investigation
In the bed of the enemy.
Coco Chanel under the Occupation,
by Hal Vaughan, is obvious and delivers an incriminating portrait.
As in
The Crown
, certain details raise questions, reality or embellishment of fiction?
Such as this dinner with Himmler or the denunciation of his nephew.
The parallel between Dior and Chanel structures the story from start to finish, sometimes in an artificial way where the link between the Dior siblings is more organic.
An Achilles heel compensated for by the brilliance of the cast (John Malkovich, Glenn Close).
Played by a madcap and haughty Juliette Binoche, Coco Chanel, alone in a world of men, driven by her instinct for survival, cannibalizes the screen in front of a Dior, played by Ben Mendelsohn, more timid.
Another strong point is the exquisite reconstruction.
The house of Dior opened its archives and guided the costume department in the reproduction of a dozen iconic dresses, previously considered lost and from the collections of 1947 and 1955. The house's experts helped find the fabrics and finishing of seams.
The result of this work should give rise to an exhibition at the Dior Gallery.
The New Look
also has the merit of recalling the strategic role of haute couture.
A know-how which, like other industries, aroused German desire.