The New Look is an Apple original series narrating a fashion story of Parisian haute couture designers based on true events. The story is centred on WWII Paris and designers who were struggling to make a living whilst also trying not to be involved in work with the Nazi occupiers. The story, not surprisingly given its title, centres on Christian Dior and his family story as well as his fashion.
For those who do not know, Christian Dior is often credited with the New Look that brought people hope after the horror of WWII, which is what this series celebrates. However, as someone who is currently writing a fashion textbook and who knows fashion history, it needs to be emphasised that this New Look was criticised by feminists, as well as Coco Chanel for taking women’s societal rights backwards. The series acknowledges that, which I appreciate, and it does so by portraying Coco Chanel criticising Dior’s work, and this criticism is well-known and documented.
I enjoyed the family story of Dior, which focuses on his sister who was a member of the Resistance movement in Paris and ended up arrested, tortured and in a Nazi concentration camp. The story is stressful but also beautiful because his sister, and her mates, passionately talk about never collaborating or surrendering to the enemy. Dior’s compassion and attempts to save his sister and his friendship with other couturiers were also beautifully portrayed and if true, will likely soften my attitude towards that brand, which has historically been negative because of the femininity of the New Look and the fact I always preferred Coco Chanel’s approach of drawing inspiration from masculinity and her attitude that fashion is style, not the latest trend, and that women should wear clothes, not the other way around. You can learn more about Chanel’s philosophy from fantastic Inside Chanel campaign videos. Here are three examples of Chanel’s philosophy,
Speaking of Coco Chanel, the series tackles her collaboration with Nazi’s but shows a different side to it and portrays her work as a forced one, e.g., she asked her friend (highly positioned in the Nazi regime) to help her save her nephew who was captured by Nazi’s for his work in the French Resistance movement, which resulted with her being forced to collaborate with Nazi’s. This was quite interesting as I always wondered how the family of Chanel’s investors, who were Jewish, inherited her business which nowadays they own and not someone from her family. This series shows why and portrays that in an interesting way, which I will research further.
I also enjoyed the fashion portrayed in this series, Dior’s sketches, and what an actress portraying Chanel wears (Juliette Binoche). I loved everything she wore in the series just like I always love everything Chanel ever designed. When watching the series, I’ve been particularly going crazy about long and midi black dresses worn with fake pearls and other fake jewellery (a signature Coco Chanel style) the Chanel actress wears so I ended up ordering similar stuff from an American designer, who is more budget-friendly, Calvin Klein lol
But, speaking of Dior, he is portrayed as a truly likeable figure and his New Look is portrayed as a dream and a hope rather than an attempt to take something away from women’s rights, which was an interesting perspective and a point of reflection for me, which I will research further. I also particularly liked the haute couture friendship, collaboration and attempts to help one another rather than compete. Balenciaga was a particularly appealing character in the series, and I also liked the mention of the haute couture union and its origins (Federation de la Haute Couture Et De La Mode).
The New Look is a very, very interesting and well-made series. The series has excellent lighting, is made indoors as well as outdoors, and there is some excellent acting including the fact that actors look a lot like the real designers they are portraying, which was fascinating. Without a doubt, this is one of the best series based on historical events I watched in a long time.
Thank you for reading!