The New Look
What It Feels Like
Christian Dior creates the New Look. Coco Chanel fights to reclaim her throne. Balenciaga observes. In postwar Paris, fashion becomes revolution. Ben Mendelsohn is Dior, Juliette Binoche is Chanel—the legends rendered by legends. Todd A. Kessler creates fashion history as high drama.
The 7-Dimension Analysis
Characters & Acting (9/10)
Ben Mendelsohn as Dior: the gentle revolutionary. Juliette Binoche as Chanel: the lioness in winter. Maisie Williams as Catherine Dior, John Malkovich as Lucien Lelong. The performances are masterful—icons playing icons.
World Building (10/10)
Postwar Paris: the bombed streets, the rationed fabric, the fashion houses determined to rise. The world is rendered with detail—the ateliers, the salons, the Nazi occupation flashbacks. Fashion history becomes living history.
Cinematography (9/10)
Apple TV+ production at its finest: Paris photographed like a painting, the fashion rendered with worshipful attention, the period recreated with detail. The style is haute couture itself.
Visual Spectacle (7/10)
The spectacle is fashion: Dior's New Look, Chanel's comeback, the gowns rendered in detail. This is visual pleasure as narrative—the clothes tell the story.
Conceptual Density (8/10)
Art as rebellion, beauty as defiance, the legacy of collaboration, what we owe to the past. The show explores how fashion became resistance after occupation. The themes are woven into the fabric.
Narrative Drive (7/10)
Dior vs. Chanel: the gentle revolutionary vs. the established icon. The drive is competition and survival—each episode advances the rivalry. The pacing is deliberate, sometimes slow, always beautiful.
Narrative Path & Resolution (7/10)
Season 1 complete; renewed. The story of Dior's rise is told; Chanel's return is set up. The continuation will explore the evolving rivalry. Incomplete but satisfying.
Where to Watch
US: Apple TV+
UK: Apple TV+