Apple TV+’s new drama series sets out its stall early. It opens with two captions. “During World War II,” explains the first, “the Germans occupied Paris for four years, forcing the French to submit to Nazi authority and oppression.”“This is the story,” the second tells us, “of how creation helped return spirit and life to the world.”
Simplistic, grandiose and absurd to the point of insult – welcome to the world of The New Look. This is the tale of the rivalry between designers Coco Chanel and Christian Dior that was formed in the crucible of a global conflict, which, not content with simply putting a spoke in the wheels of fashion’s evolution and Coco’s business in particular, also killed millions of Jews. But don’t worry – you’re not going to hear much about them. This is about the importance of art and beautifully dressed Gallic suffering (you’re not going to hear much about Vichy France, either, and its very unstylish deportation of 76,000 Jews to death camps), so don your highest couture and on we go!
