Dior, Chanel and Balenciaga: Fashion at War

In the fourth episode of The New Look, which dropped on February 21, the greatest couturiers of Paris are preparing for Théâtre de la Mode, a couture showcase on dolls. It is 1944 and the French capital is recently liberated from Nazi occupation—a period that has left couturiers with little access to finance or raw materials—hence a public exhibition of dolls, instead of an exclusive presentation with models. Among the makers is French designer Christian Dior, yet to start his eponymous label that will go on to become one of the world’s most hallowed luxury fashion houses, creating dresses for Maison Lelong (where he works). The episode states at the end that Théâtre de la Mode, presented in 1945, drew thousands, resurrected brands and earned Dior the most compliments for his designs.

The audience barely sees these dresses Dior—played by Ben Mendelsohn—creates, while coping with personal catastrophe and an overwhelming desire to give up. There’s design in the early episodes of The New Look—an Apple TV+ show about couturiers Coco Chanel (Juliette Binoche) and Dior in the background of World War II. The title shares its name, of course, with Dior’s path-breaking collection ‘The New Look’, yet the narrative does not stitch his design sensibilities with his war experience. 

In recalling the origin stories of iconic luxury brands, it is not common to include the wartime experiences of their founding designers. Yet, these lived experiences paved the way for their most cutting-edge design innovations. For any storytelling that seeks to chronicle this period in fashion, it is crucial to answer: what significance do clothes makers, particularly those catering to the rich, have in the face of war? The New Look stumbles in answering the question. In comparison, another show offers something akin to a response—Cristóbal Balenciaga, a Spanish-French language miniseries on Disney+ since January, about the couturier Balenciaga—a contemporary of both Chanel and Dior, who also lived in Paris through World War II.

Wartime Stories

Chanel and Dior are ideal picks for The New Look, as its war-time protagonists. Chanel was caught in a series of Nazi plans, including a botched espionage mission, and had an affair with a SS officer—which has been fodder for articles, books and a particularly uncouth Bill Burr comedy routine. On the other hand, Dior’s sister Catherine, the inspiration behind the Miss Dior perfume and a more recent Dior Caro bag, was a member of the French Resistance and spent months in a German concentration camp. 

In The New Look, Dior’s attempts to find his sister (Catherine, played by Maisie Williams) shares space with Chanel’s manoeuvres to save herself and her business. Designing high-fashion during a war means much of which is worn by Nazis. Chanel closes her boutique for much of World War II, but Dior continues to design—motivated primarily by income, he does not meet the clients he makes ballgowns for. In one scene, Dior says, “The fabric, the design, the garment, are all innocent. Only the woman who will soon wear it will be corrupt.”

Dior is resigned to the situation more than other characters—such as his contemporary, Pierre Balmain who refuses to design unless he knows who it is for. Or, Cristobal Balenciaga (played by Nuno Lopes) who declares that he will not design for Nazis. “The Balenciaga name will not stand for it,” he tells Balmain and Dior. 

The stand is a far cry from Cristóbal Balenciaga, the Disney+ miniseries in which the Spanish designer is protagonist. While the show chronicles the entire length of Balenciaga’s career, its second episode is—titled ‘The Occupation’—dedicated to the time when Nazis occupied Paris. 

Designing in Crisis

In Cristóbal Balenciaga, Balenciaga—played by Alberto San Juan—has at least one Nazi client and insists that he is apolitical. “Our business is different. High fashion has always served the elite class,” he tells a journalist, in the second episode. “It wasn’t about resistance or collaboration. It was about survival.” Part of the episode's success lies in how deftly it narrates the complexities of operating a fashion brand in such a time. Apart from an enduring fear for life, there are real-time logistical challenges of running the business. A ban on imported textiles forces Balenciaga to smuggle inferior fabrics from Spain and his clientele takes a hit. The most striking part of this episode comes when the maison is shuttered for “inciting rebellion through provocative hats.” Taking an apolitical stand is no protection; as Nicolás Vizcarrondo, a former business partner, tells the designer: “Don’t you know everything is political? A hat is political!”

War is ever present in early episodes of Cristóbal Balenciaga—even before World War II, the designer moves to Paris to escape the Spanish Civil War. When a Parisian praises Picasso’s Guernica, the designer tells them that the famous work of art draws its name from a “bombed out village”. But the show never forgets that its protagonist is not a war hero, but a designer and dressmaker—among the best in his generation. Balenciaga’s most inventive designs—particularly, removing the waist and broadening the shoulders in women’s garments—comes after the war, and the show ensures that this evolution is integral to the plot. The inflection point in Balenciaga’s design language arrives just as the Paris occupation ends in 1944, and its roots are sown in an early conversation between the designer and his partner, Wladzio Jawrorowski d'Attainville (played by Thomas Coumans). 

War is ever present in the early episodes, but 'Cristóbal Balenciaga' never forgets that its protagonist is a designer and dressmaker.

Dior’s rise as a fashion designer is also a post-War product, but The New Look has so far not able to able to express it through design and visuals. Dior’s, or even Chanel’s, success and skills are spoken about, not shown in the series. Removing fashion would hardly dent its main plot, almost exemplifying a scene when a Nazi officer tells Chanel, “History will remember you more for this, than any dress you have ever made.” But her work is too significant to be sacrificed on the altar of missteps; it demands examination, not negation. With more episodes to go, and another season greenlit, The New Look still has time to course-correct. But it may have already missed the opportunity to explore how the war changed fashion—a subject that remains just as relevant today, as both consumerism and crises continue to peak.

Source: thevoiceoffashion

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