Dior biopic Drops Valentines day!

Valentine's Day is almost here, but I’ll be curled up that night with the new biopic on Christian Dior coming to Apple TV+. This limited series is mostly focused on his years after WWII at his Maison on Avenue Montaigne, where he designed and debuted his first collection, “Corolle,” becoming an overnight sensation. Harper’s Bazaar editor Carmel Snow has tied her fame to his for eternity by being the genius to call it “The New Look,” which is also the series title. I’m especially interested in seeing Maisie Williams play his younger sister, a resistance fighter in the French underground, after whom he named his first fragrance, “Miss Dior.” It used his favourite flower, Lily-of=the-Valley, inspired by her visits to the Maison and how they would announce when Miss Dior arrived. I’m also looking forward to John Malkovitch as Lucien Lelong, who Dior worked for before he opened his own house, and Juliette Binoche playing Coco Chanel in the aftermath of WWII when she collaborated with the Nazis occupying Paris.

I have written articles, given tours and hosted talks about Christian Dior, and people often seem surprised that he’s dead (spoiler alert!) and, in fact, only designed at his own Maison for ten years. He handed it over to 21-year-old Yves Saint Laurent, who designed there for three years before Marc Bohan (for 30 out of 77 years!), Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons, and currently, Maria Grazia Chiuri. Dior died in 1957 on holiday after travelling to the south of France against the advice of his Tarot card reader, which was unusual for him as he was highly superstitious. In that short period, he changed how women dressed, and designers did business, by licensing his brand worldwide. He had over 2500 mourners at his funeral, while the Arc de Triomphe, covered in a mountain of flowers, became a monument to him. It is a fitting tribute to the man who transformed his beloved customers into “flower women.”

This series comes on the heels of the limited series on Disney+ “Cristóbal Balenciaga”, whom Dior considered the master of all couturiers. It was beautifully shot in Paris with a story that quietly featured Monsieur Dior since, at that time, he was the focus of the press, much to Mr. Balenciaga’s chagrin. While both men disliked the press, Dior was savvy enough to use it to his advantage and humour the fashion editors and their photographers. At the same time, Balenciaga constantly fled from journalists and their cameras, so much so that there are only a handful of photos of Balenciaga in existence and even less direct information about his motivations and design philosophies. We owe a debt to the English journalist Prudence Glynn, who convinced him to allow her to give the very in-depth interview on which this series is based. Highly recommended!

Dior and Chanel

Dior and Chanel

Coco Chanel is heavily featured in both series, but in “The New Look,” Juliette Binoche plays Chanel as she was, at the time, a rival to Dior. It’s no wonder she’s featured in both, as Chanel is still the most famous of all of these designers (IMHO), and although she wasn’t designing much during the war or after, she was still a force to be reckoned with, as we will see.

Dior, Balenciaga, Chanel, Lagerfeld Iconic looks

Chanel is a fashion behemoth partially thanks to the creative direction and design of the late Karl Lagerfeld, who will also have a TV series called “Kaiser Karl” coming out later this year on Disney+. It takes place in the 70’s during Karl’s quest to become the next designer for Chanel after her death in 1971 when he was still working for Chlöé, and I am dying to see some of the remakes of his incredible work from that period. Not to mention, he also had a decades-long rivalry with Yves Saint Laurent, the epitome of 1970s Paris glamour, so I’m hoping for some of his fabulous Rive Gauche outfits to make an appearance. Paris in the 70s? Oui, s’il vous plait!

Leah Van Loon FXT Paris

If you’d like to learn more about Dior, Balenciaga, Chanel and Lagerfeld, meet me in Paris for one of my guided tours! I’ll take you to world class fashion museums, show you incredible locations, introduce you to Haute Couture artisans and their ateliers, and give you all the best places to shop, eat, and play! Let’s go to Paris!