The New Look (TV series)

The New Look is an American biographical drama television series created by Todd A. Kessler that premiered on Apple TV+ on February 14, 2024. A second season is in development.

Plot
The series follows fashion designers Christian Dior and Coco Chanel through the World War II Nazi occupation of Paris and its aftermath.

During the occupation, Dior continues working for Lucien Lelong's fashion house, designing clothes for Nazi wives and girlfriends despite his distaste for the work. Dior finances his sister Catherine's work with the French Resistance, and is distraught when she is arrested by Nazis. Dior is unable to find her before the Allies arrive, and he turns to a mystic, Delahaye, who tells him that Catherine will return safely. Dior's belief is seemingly vindicated when Catherine does return alive.

Chanel, who is a well-established designer, closed her fashion house during the war to avoid designing for Nazis, but her celebrity status brings her into contact with them, and she uses these connections to have her nephew Andre released from capture. Chanel takes Hans von Dincklage, a Nazi spy, as a lover and is pressured to participate in a failed plot to send secret communication to Winston Churchill. After the liberation, Chanel is targeted by MI6 who want to have her exposed as a Nazi collaborator, and she flees to Switzerland.

Dior obtains financing from Marcel Boussac to open his own fashion house. Raymonde Zehnacker leaves Lelong to join Dior as partner and run the business, as Dior is more interested in the creative aspects of the work. Dior's work distances him from Catherine, who leaves Paris for their hometown of Callian to recover from the trauma of her imprisonment. In order to meet the launch deadline for the season, Dior permits Zehnacker to poach seamstresses from other fashion houses; Pierre Balmain protests and threatens to have Dior removed from the Couture Council, but Lelong decides not to sanction Dior.

In exile, Chanel struggles for money. She threatens legal action against her partners, the Wertheimers, over profits and control of the Chanel brand, despite her lawyer's advice that such action will bring to light Chanel's business with the Nazis. Chanel successfully negotiates new terms with the Wertheimers, but von Dincklage arranges for Elsa, Chanel's best friend, to die, and destroys Chanel's relationship with Andre by revealing her Nazi connections to him. Andre reports her to French police's Nazi Investigation Bureau, and she is arrested.

To Dior's surprise, Catherine attends the launch of his fashion line and learns that his perfume is named after her. Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief at Harper's Bazaar, also attends the launch in the hopes of finding a French designer to highlight. At the very end of the fashion show, Dior sends out the model wearing the outfit that defines his fashion line as the "New Look".

Main

 * Ben Mendelsohn as Christian Dior
 * Juliette Binoche as Coco Chanel
 * Maisie Williams as Catherine Dior
 * John Malkovich as Lucien Lelong
 * Claes Bang as Hans von Dincklage
 * Zabou Breitman as Madame Zehnacker
 * Thure Lindhardt as Heinrich Himmler
 * Emily Mortimer as Elsa Lombardi (based on Vera Bate Lombardi)
 * Charles Berling as Pierre Wertheimer
 * Glenn Close as Carmel Snow

Recurring

 * Nuno Lopes as Cristóbal Balenciaga
 * Thomas Poitevin as Pierre Balmain
 * Jannis Niewöhner as Walter Schellenberg
 * David Kammenos as Jacques Benita
 * Hugo Becker as Hervé des Charbonneries
 * Darina Al Joundi as Madame Delahaye
 * Joseph Olivennes as André Palasse
 * Christopher Buchholz as Baron Vaufreland
 * Michael Carter as Maurice Dior
 * Eliott Margueron as Pierre Cardin
 * Patrick Albenque as Marcel Boussac
 * Frédéric Anscombre as René de Chambrun
 * Quentin Faure as George Vigouroux
 * Gaëtan Wenders as Jacob Friedman

Guest

 * Axel Auriant as Guillaume
 * Alexandre Willaume as Raoul Nordling
 * Sagamore Stévenin as Pierre Reverdy
 * Rupert Young as Malcolm Muggeridge
 * Joséphine de La Baume as Arletty
 * Olivia Ruiz as Édith Piaf
 * Jérôme Robart as Paul Wertheimer
 * Jonjo O'Neill as Bernard Dior
 * Mathilde Warnier as Marie-Therese
 * Alex Jennings as Raymond Dior

Production
It was announced in February 2022 that Apple TV+ had greenlighted the project, which has the potential to become an anthology series. Todd A. Kessler was set to write, direct and executive produce, with Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche starring. In May, Maisie Williams joined the cast, with John Malkovich, Emily Mortimer, and Claes Bang added in June.

Filming for the first season began by May 2022 in Paris.

The second season was set to begin filming in November 2023 before the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.

Music
In November 2023, it was announced that Jack Antonoff would produce the soundtrack for The New Look, which consists of covers of popular songs from the early and mid-20th century. Scheduled to be released on April 3, 2024, the soundtrack album for the first season comprises 10 covers and will be the first release by Antonoff's Shadow of the City record label, under Dirty Hit. Florence and the Machine's cover of "The White Cliffs of Dover" was released as the first single on January 31, 2024. The second single, a cover of "Now Is the Hour" by the 1975 was released on February 7, 2024.

Release
The series was released with the first three episodes on February 14, 2024, followed by one episode every Wednesday through April 3.

Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 59% based on 49 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "The New Look benefits from impressive production values and a talented cast, even if they're often let down by a somewhat scattered story." On Metacritic, the series holds a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Anita Singh of the Telegraph awarded the series three stars out of five, praising the show’s “sumptious” look but criticizing the decision to shoot in English.