• Reviews

• All
• Music
• DVDs
• Live
• Cinema
• TV
• Books
• Comic Books
• Video Games

Feb 14, 2024 By Lily Moayeri Photography by Apple TV+ Web Exclusive

World War II provides such great story fodder. The New Look, however, is a different take on this era, focused on legendary French fashion designers, Coco Chanel and Christian Dior and their very different paths during this time.

The New Look is set during and after the Nazi occupation of France, specifically Paris. It begins in 1955 with Chanel (Juliette Binoche) spitting quotables to the media in her signature biting way. In contrast, a shaky Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) has to be coaxed out to participate in a Q&A at the Sorbonne after a runway show of his designs. It’s one of these questions that sets the stage for The New Look. To paraphrase, Chanel closed its doors during the Nazi occupation, but Dior designed for the wives and girlfriends of Nazis.

Rewind to 1943 and three years into the occupation and it’s not quite as cut-and-dried as all that. Yes, Chanel’s doors were closed and she postured around decreeing she wouldn’t design for Nazis, but she did collude with them, sleep with one of them, become their agent, in a way, and was for all intents and purposes, a Nazi sympathizer—as long as it was to her benefit. Dior, on the other hand, worked for Lucien Lelong (John Malkovich) who was forced to continue designing for the survival of his employees. This coercion rolled downhill to the subservient Dior. Dior, for his part, was supporting his family, including bankrolling his sister, Catherine (Maisie Williams). An active member of the Resistance, Catherine is captured and sent to the brutal camp, Ravensbrück.

This is where The New Look loses its personality. The premise is such a unique and intriguing one. Fashion and the Nazis! Chanel, Dior, Balenciaga, Balmain, Givenchy, Cardin all establishing themselves, or in the case of Chanel, continuing her trailblazing work during such a fraught time of history. Surely that would be a fascinating tale. Except that The New Look lags and drags. It takes far too long to get its points across. When it finally does, it does so with not enough conviction.

Instead of focusing on the fashion, which is in the title (The New Look was the name of Dior’s first collection when he set up his own house), the 10-episode series keeps forgetting what it’s about and reverts to being a Holocaust story. While those stories are always important, when they’re told not in the context of the designers, they veer off topic and lose the thread, pun intended, of the actual story. What would have been more relevant would have been an exploration of Dior’s homosexual relationship in a Nazi setting. His homosexuality is not disguised but the fact that Nazis would have sent him off to a concentration camp immediately is not touched upon.

Mendelsohn doesn’t have enough of a commitment to the retiring and soft-spoken Dior. At the risk of sounding agist, at only five years Binoche’s junior, is oddly miscast as the “new face of fashion.” Not to mention, he’s more the twice the age of Williams, his sister. Binoche is fabulous as Chanel, even if the facts of her life are heavily massaged. Her Nazi associations are well-documented, but as The New Look disclaims, it is “inspired by true events” and not a 100% factual account so extensive creative license has been taken with portraying her actions. But her clothes and accessories are so fantastic, they’re enough to distract from the fictitious story.

During each episode’s closing credits, there is a Jack Antonoff-produced cover of a period-appropriate song performed by current-day musicians. Among these are Lana Del Rey, Frances Welch, Perfume Genius. The New Look falls short, but these covers can be enjoyed without having to slog through the episodes. Check them out here. (www.tv.apple.com/us/show/the-new-look/)

Author rating: 6/10