The New Look: Everything you need to know about the new Christian Dior and Coco Chanel series
Inspired by the lives of some of the biggest names in fashion, Apple TV+ has released a new series centred around some of the star designers who lived in Paris during the Second World War.
It stars Ben Mendelsohn as fashion designer Christian Dior and Juliette Binoche as the matriarch of the House of Chanel, Coco Chanel.
The cast also includes Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams as Catherine Dior, John Malkovich as Lucien Lelong, and Bad Sisters’ Claes Bang as Spatz (Baron Hans Gunther von Dincklage).
Haute couture is the star of the show in The New Look. Pic. Apple TV+
Juliette Binoche. Pic: Apple TV+
What’s it about?
The New Look focuses on Paris’s haute couture fashion houses during World War Two and the decisions the designers faced while under Nazi occupation.
The series was created by Todd A Keller – who previously worked on the hit shows The Sopranos and Bloodline – and centres on Christian Dior’s rise to prominence in the fashion world.
In the 1940s, Dior worked for Lucien Lelong in one of the fashion houses that remained open during the war. Staying open while under Nazi occupation meant they designed clothing for the wives of Nazi officials.
Ben Mendelsohn, who plays Dior in the series, says it’s difficult to know how you would react to the situation, without witnessing it yourself in the moment.
(L-R) Ben Mendelsohn and John Malkovich. Pic: Apple TV+.
“When morality meets reality, then there’s very often an adjustment. You can have all of the ideas of who and how you are in the world, but when reality meets, you must respond to that or walk away from it”.
The fashion designer launched his debut collection in 1947 and it was nicknamed the ‘New Look’.
Speaking to Time magazine for their 1957 cover story, Dior said he turned women into “flowers with soft shoulders” after a long period of war with “soldier-women with shoulders like boxers”.
‘A big jump into the abyss’
One of the main characters in the Apple TV+ series is Coco Chanel – the woman credited for revolutionising women’s clothing in the 20th century.
Chanel had been considered one of the most famous designers at the time and was living at The Ritz in Paris during the 1940s.
(L-R) Juliette Binoche and Emily Mortimer. Pic: Apple TV+
The series depicts her socialising with Nazi officials including Heinrich Himmler – a leading member of the Nazi Party in Germany.
Oscar-winner Juliette Binoche depicts Chanel in the show and says her scene with Himmler was shot on her first day on set.
“I have to tell you, this scene was for me a big one because it was my first scene. It was my first day of shooting and actually it was a night shoot. And to enter Chanel’s character, being with Himmler was like a big jump into the abyss and I was frightened”.
The actress says it’s important to remember that the show is “fiction inspired by real events”.
She added: “I’m just praying all the time that, you know, the showrunner and the producers, they’ve done the homework, and all the information has been verified”.
Chanel’s association with Nazi officials had previously been inspected in the 2011 biography “Sleeping With The Enemy” by journalist Hal Vaughan.
It claimed the fashion designer became a German intelligence operative, was enlisted in spy missions and how she evaded arrest in France after the war.
However, in 2023, Justine Picardie who authored Coco Chanel: The Legend and The Life, said that the fashion mogul was actually a member of the French Resistance.
Pic: Apple TV+
Where was it filmed?
The Apple TV+ series was shot completely in Paris, at the same locations where the real events occurred.
Executive producer Todd A Keller says it was imperative to shoot on location at the places the fashion designers frequented and which the Nazis occupied.
He says: “The feeling of violation and oppression, by an outside army invading essentially and imposing strict order on the French we felt like [shooting on location] would really bring that world to life and we could transport the audience into it in a way that they may have never experienced previously”.
Masie Williams. Apple TV+
Game Of Thrones star Maisie Williams
Maisie Williams plays Catherine Dior, the sister of Christian, in The New Look.
The 26-year-old actress moved to Paris for eight months to shoot the show and says the storyline made her reflect on the events that occurred in the country.
“We were bringing these banners back to the streets of Paris and it was just something I was very, brutally reminded of, just when speaking with a lot of the French crew and cast and actors, because this is something that, for me, I read in history books, but for Paris, this was like a really, really dark time that they went through”.
John Malkovich. Pic: Apple TV+
Where can I watch The New Look?
The first three episodes of The New Look are available to stream now on Apple TV+ with new episodes released every Wednesday.
The show’s finale is on Wednesday 3 April.
Gary Glitter will stay in prison after the Parole Board refused the disgraced singer’s bid to be released.
Glitter, 81, was recalled to jail less than six weeks after he was released halfway through his 16-year sentence in 2023 for breaching his licence conditions by allegedly viewing downloaded images of children.
He was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment in 2015 after being found guilty of sexually assaulting three schoolgirls between 1975 and 1980.
The Parole Board last year said it was “not satisfied that release at this point would be safe for the protection of the public” after a hearing held behind closed doors.
Glitter was jailed in 2015 Pic: PA
A spokesman on Tuesday said his release was refused again following a “paper review”.
“Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community,” a statement said.
“A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.
“Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.”
Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, will be eligible for a further review at a date set by the Ministry of Justice. His sentence expires in February 2031.
He was made bankrupt earlier this year after failing to pay more than £500,000 in damages to a woman who sued him for abusing her when she was 12 years old.
Richard Scorer, head of abuse law and public inquiries at Slater and Gordon, who represented the woman, told Sky News the Parole Board has made “the right decision”.
He added: “My client is relieved at this ruling but apprehensive about having to go through the merry-go-round of Gadd coming up for parole again, and the fear of him being let out on licence.
“This is unfair on victims and it would be better if they were assured that he would serve the rest of his sentence.”
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Glitter was first jailed for four months in 1999 after he admitted possessing around 4,000 indecent images of children.
He was expelled from Cambodia in 2002, and in March 2006 was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam, where he spent two-and-a-half years in prison.
Glitter was automatically released from HMP The Verne, a low-security prison in Portland, Dorset, in February 2023 after serving half of his fixed-term determinate sentence.
But he was back behind bars weeks later after reportedly trying to access the dark web and images of children.
Kim Woodburn – a former cleaner who found fame presenting the hit TV show How Clean Is Your House? – has died.
Woodburn, who was 83, later became a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother in 2017, finishing as runner-up.
Woodburn came third in Celebrity Big Brother 2017. Pic: PA
Her manager said in a statement: “It is with immense sadness that we let you know our beloved Kim Woodburn passed away yesterday following a short illness.
“Kim was an incredibly kind, caring, charismatic and strong person.
“Her husband, Peter, is heartbroken at the loss of his soulmate.
“We are so proud of the amazing things Kim achieved in her life and career.
“We kindly ask that Kim’s husband and close friends are given the time and privacy they need to grieve.
“We will not be releasing any further details.”
Woodburn with Aggie MacKenzie (L). Pic: PA
On Tuesday, her husband shared a video montage of photos of Woodburn over the years, starting when she was just four years old, with the message: “My wonderful, beautiful, Kim passed away last night. God bless, my love, xx xx”
Known for her trademark tight, plaited bun, Kim was largely blind in her right eye, and had poor sight in her left eye, and earlier this year had told her followers she was undergoing emergency eye surgery.
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Woodburn, who had been selling video greetings to fans, shared her last Instagram post in February, when she posted a message saying “Kim is unable to record any further videos for the foreseeable future due to a health problem”.
She wrote: “No more videos for now, my loves, I need to get better!”
Woodburn, born Patricia Mary in Hampshire, left a turbulent home life aged 16, moving to Liverpool to become a live-in cleaner.
She revealed in her 2006 autobiography that, at the age of 23, she prematurely gave birth to a stillborn son and buried him in a park.
The revelation in her book led to a police inquiry, but no action was taken by officers.
In the same year as the stillbirth, she changed her name to Kim – after American actress Kim Novak.
Years later, she was scouted by a TV company looking for a cleaner with an engaging personality to front How Clean is Your House?
Paired with Scottish cleaner Aggie MacKenzie, the two professional cleaners fronted the show – a ratings hit and a pioneer for the home cleaning genre – from 2003 to 2009.
Woodburn went on to appear in Celebrity Big Brother, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of here! and E4’s Celebrity Cooking School, as well as regularly contributing to ITV’s This Morning and Loose Women.
She also appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Big Brother’s Bit On The Side, Celebrity Come Dine With Me and A Place In The Sun.
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