The True Story Behind Apple TV+’s The New Look
Coco Chanel and Christian Dior were rival couture designers in the 1950s. But during World War II, they found themselves in the same tragic situation: Both had family members imprisoned by the Nazis and were pulling every kind of string to get them back. That’s the premise of The New Look, out on Apple TV+ on Feb. 14, starring Juliette Binoche as Chanel and Ben Mendelsohn as Dior. Over 10 episodes, The New Look shows them fighting to save their loved ones and then fighting to save their own couture houses in the post-war period.
Here, TIME talked to biographers of Chanel and Dior about what the designers really went through during World War II, what to make of Chanel’s association with Nazi officials, and the little-known story of Dior’s resistance fighter sister Catherine, who was an inspiration for his legendary 1947 “New Look” collection.
Photo by AppleTV+