Dear reader: I laughed so hard I cried (or did I cry so hard I laughed?) in the final moments of this week’s The New Look, which, over the sound of Perfume Genius shakily singing, “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes” implies that Christian Dior saved fashion and the nation of France, all while Ben Mendelsohn as Christian Dior sews a dress on a doll as historical information characterized by entirely unnecessary but necessarily dramatic ellipses is displayed onscreen. This is a compliment to the series’ impeccable, undeniable boomer instincts. Television as we know it is back in full force, a return to form (pun intended) but with an unfathomable amount of Apple money. The BBC-to-PBS pipeline aesthetic is back, baby!
But that’s not the only thing that’s back. John Malkovich’s shaky Shailene Woodley–esque French accent returns in full force in episode four when he basically invents Barbie. Théâtre de la Mode (Theater of Fashion) — the exhibition that Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Parisienne president Lucien Lelong proposes both to revive French couture and his friend/employee Dior — began its run at the Louvre in 1945. The series takes a few liberties here for storytelling ease. While Lelong was involved, the concept came from Robert Ricci, son of designer Nina Ricci. The project, which funded war efforts, was a hit, which the episode brags about, along with listing names of designers involved. What the episode doesn’t tell you is that the exhibit toured the globe and, in doing so, increased the reputation of French couture on a global scale, especially thanks to its presence in the United States. Théâtre de la Mode is now part of the permanent collections at the Maryhill Museum of Art in Washington State.
Before World War II, couture was integral to France’s economy and its national identity. There were dozens of couture fashion houses, but the war led a majority to close. “What a Difference” emphasizes creation, purpose, fate, and salvation. French couture designers, including Cristóbal Balenciaga (himself Spanish but a longtime resident of Paris) and Lelong, seek to save France’s beating heart with their work. Balenciaga, in particular, is quite passionate about the project, popping off about functional buttons and zippers for his doll’s clothes. Balmain, seeing an opportunity in a post-occupation Paris, seeks independence from Lelong. Coco Chanel creates a narrative to save her ass and, eventually, forges a new life for herself outside of France. Meanwhile, clouded by grief for Catherine, Christian runs away from creating, only to get pulled back to his destiny.
The episode opens with Chanel in an ivory suit with the most massive poppy ever seen, celebrating Paris’s liberation on a rooftop surrounded by blue skies and the similarly privileged. Chanel’s nephew, Andre, brings his Cambridge buddy Oscar Davies (Joshua James), who is later revealed to be working with MI6, to the celebration. Oscar is working with British intelligence to expose Chanel in an effort to protect himself from the consequences of his own collaboration with the Nazis. Also at the party is Arletty (Joséphine de La Baume), a French actress known for films including Hotel du Nord (1938), who “fell in love” with a German during the occupation. “My heart is French, but my ass is international,” Arletty says, an alleged real quote. When Arletty is harassed, she seeks comfort and sanctuary with her friend Chanel. Chanel understands Arletty but is careful to expose her own parallels as she’s more interested in protecting herself from Arletty’s fate than anything else, especially after witnessing the public shaming of female collaborators on the streets of Paris. Arletty is arrested by the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) and similarly stripped down, her hair cut to the scalp, mirroring Catherine’s experience at the Ravensbrück Nazi camp. Shots from the street fire at Chanel’s rooftop celebration, but no one is hurt. “The rich and sexy always come out on top,” Chanel screams, a sentiment that reflects just as well in the modern world as it did in post-occupation Paris.
Chanel arrogantly attempts to use her charm and status with the FFI. She offers a bottle of Chanel No. 5. “She will love you forever.” When it fails, she panics and resorts to what she does best: negging. She tells an officer in the interrogation room that a fuller figure suits him better, which gets him to remove the belt around his waist. Charm and Chanel No. 5 fail her, but Chanel weasels her way out of her arrest regardless: Back at the Ritz, her maid contacts Winston Churchill, who demands her release. Historically, Chanel’s connection to the British prime minister is most likely to have been her saving grace.
Oscar’s espionage leads Chanel to journalist-MI6 agent Malcolm Muggeridge (Rupert Young), who wants to interview her in the hopes that Chanel will expose herself. Chanel did reveal some of her espionage activities in the real interview, which contains anecdotes that likely inspired events in the first three episodes of The New Look, including the trip to Madrid. Muggeridge was known for holding Charles de Gaulle in a higher regard than Churchill. By the episode’s end, Chanel — with Andre and grand-niece Gabrielle — flees France for Switzerland. The rich and sexy Arletty also comes out on top. She was found guilty of collaboration horizontale (sleeping with the enemy) due to her affection for her lover, Hans-Jürgen Soehring, a Luftwaffe officer. Her sentence was served in a private château.
Oscar, however, does not come out on top. Forced to incriminate Andre despite his innocence and ignorance of Chanel’s Nazi collaboration, he backs out of the deal and shoots himself before British intelligence can save him. Andre intervenes in the middle of Chanel’s interview with Muggeridge after a warning from Oscar, cutting it short just as Chanel is on the precipice of saying too much.
Christian comes out on top creatively despite his distress and after several trying confrontations with Lelong, his father, and himself. Early in the episode, and at a vastly different celebration than Chanel’s (dark, candlelit, somber, gay), Christian witnesses Madame Delahaye (Darina Al Joundi) perform a tarot reading. He is both curious and dubious of the practice. But he’s thinking about Catherine, which we know because of the ham-fisted flashbacks to Christian on the train track screaming, “Catherine,” which appears every few seconds when Ben Mendelsohn is onscreen. While this might come across as an insult, it cannot be overstated that I loved every second of this. Madame Delahaye confronts him when he’s trying to leave and asks if he has a child. Confused and more than likely assuming if she is right, she is referring to his beloved Catherine, he leaves.
A confrontation with his father, Maurice (Michael Carter), worsens Christian’s spirits. But he finally reveals that Catherine worked for the Resistance and is in a work camp in Germany, and is either dead or will be soon given the rumors of death marches. His father blames Christian for Catherine’s fate, suggesting that he doesn’t care about his family, clearly ignorant of the lengths his son went to to protect Catherine. Maurice insults Christian’s profession, his sexuality, his manhood, his entire life. “I don’t understand you, Christian,” his father says. “Escaping into a fantasy world.” Christian shrivels up in fear, unable to fully defend or explain himself to his father. This leaves Christian questioning his worth and talent, ready to give up completely.
But Lelong is desperate to revive French couture and knows Christian is the key. He compares Christian’s grief over Catherine to a giant wave, “crashing over you again and again and again,” kind of like how the flashback to Christian crying out Catherine’s name at the train station appears again and again and again. This show is brilliant, and I love it so much. “Creation perhaps cannot stop the bullet, but creation is our way forward. Our survival. Our salvation,” Lelong says. As a creative myself, I relate to this sentiment: Personally, I could not survive without writing recaps of The New Look!
Despite Lelong’s plea, Christian decides to leave Paris and fashion, as the memory of “Catherine!!!” haunts him too much. On his way out, he meets his fate: a baby left outside a church, which leads him back to Madame Delahaye. He’s impressed and baffled at her ability. She tells him that Catherine is alive and that her fate lies in his hands. She will only return to him alive if he opens his heart. Christian insists that his heart is open — incredible performance from Mendolshon here, as he pounds his chest and begs for assurance. My Emmy campaign continues! Madame Delahaye says Catherine will return, but only if Christian leads the way. ”You must create. You must find your heart. You must find your life. You must find your salvation,” a dramatic repetition of Lelong’s plea. Despite his father’s dismissal, Lelong is right: Christian’s work does mean something. It means everything.
Madame Delahaye would become a close confidant and inspiration to Christian Dior for the rest of his life, which I won’t get into too much yet, given that we’ll likely see this relationship develop throughout the rest of the series. But the inspiration is alive and well in the House of Dior in the modern world. Creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri often references astrology in her collections, most notably in Le Château du Tarot (The Castle of the Tarots), the spring/summer 2021 haute couture collection, which was inspired by tarot cards.
Next week, hopefully, we’ll get more fashion (I admit it was a bit disappointing that there weren’t any scenes depicting the actual Théâtre de la Mode) and more Claes Bang, given that Coco Chanel continued her relationship with Spatz in Switzerland.
