In Episode 5 of “The New Look,” Christian Dior persuades wealthy entrepreneur Marcel Boussac to allow him to establish his own atelier in Paris instead of working for someone else. However, the episode concludes with a heartrending twist: Christian’s sister Catherine returns from a Nazi camp, appearing dazed, malnourished, and a mere shadow of her former self. Christian finds himself torn between throwing himself into his new venture and devoting all his time to helping Catherine recover. Meanwhile, Coco Chanel prepares to wage war against her business partners for selling her popular perfume behind her back.
Titled “If You Believed in Me”, episode 6 begins with a sombre sequence of Christian ((Ben Mendelsohn) taking care of a troubled Catherine (Maisie Williams), who has shrunk to the size of an underfed child and is suffering from temporary amnesia due to the torture and trauma she endures during her imprisonment. His current situation is contrasted with Coco Chanel’s (Juliette Binoche) stay in a luxury hotel in Switzerland, where she continues to live it up, despite losing access to her money.
Except for the parts that focus on Catherine’s struggle to recover, harrowingly portrayed by Maisie Williams, this edition felt rather slow, and empty. Juliette Binoche continues to be amusingly entertaining as Coco Chanel, but the character itself is losing its novelty. She is being reduced to a middle-aged spoiled brat throwing tantrums. I was expecting a twist in her character arc, and even though there is a slight surprise in her tale towards the end of the episode, it wasn’t what I anticipated.
At this point, I am slightly disappointed that with the war over, the fashion aspect of the story still continues to languish in the background. After the beautifully flashy display of dresses by Dior in Episode One of “The New Look” and brief glimpses of French couture in Episode 4 as part of the “Théâtre de la Mode”, there hasn’t been any spotlight on Dior’s work in fashion. Everybody keeps calling Christian “talented”, but the creators of the series are miserly in their display of his skills with fabric. Hopefully, the next few episodes will pick up steam in terms of pace and content.
You can watch “The New Look” on Apple TV+
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