After the popular success of House of Gucci, the film industry is finally turning serious attention to the runways for inspiration. Apple TV+ just announced a new series, The New Look, starring Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche as Christian Dior and Coco Chanel. The series will chronicle the designers’ changing relationships and the genesis of Dior’s New Look tailoring in the post-war period in Paris. Titillated? You should be.
In the years immediately following the Second World War, Dior’s rethinking of the silhouette became an international news story. His WASP-waisted jackets and full skirts were in direct opposition to Chanel’s more freewheeling, unstructured clothing. Personally, the designers couldn’t have been any more different either, with Dior enjoying pastoral hobbies like gardening while Chanel partied in high society and was famously in bed (literally) with the Nazi party.
The series is produced by Todd A Kessler, of Damages, and promises to cover all the peripheral figures in Dior’s and Chanel’s lives, including Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Balmain, Cristobal Balenciaga, and Hubert de Givenchy. Neither of the brands have commented yet about the series, but if House of Gucci is any indication, they may tacitly support from afar.
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