The New Look – Episode 1 “Just You Wait and See” Recap & Review

Just You Wait and See

Episode 1 of The New Look, titled “Just You Wait and See,” begins with Coco Chanel refusing to speak about Christian Dior, a fashion designer everyone is singing praises about. Coco says Christian doesn’t deserve the praise, as he can’t ever compete with the House of Chanel, no matter how revolutionary his designs look. Coco is planning to make a comeback after being in exile for years. 

Meanwhile, at Sorbonne, Christian Dior takes the podium to tell his story and how his beautiful designs rejuvenated Paris after it was left devastated by the Second World War. Christian is confronted with a challenging question from an attendee who asks why he continued to design dresses for the wives and girlfriends of high-ranking Nazis.

This question transports Christian back to the past, to a time when Paris was still under Nazi control during World War II. Like everyone else, Christian struggled to survive in a city where a bed to sleep in and bread to eat were seen as luxuries. It was a dark time when the Nazis considered themselves the supreme rulers, able to do as they pleased without being held accountable.

In Nazi-occupied Germany, Christian fears for his sister, who is part of the resistance forces trying to overthrow Nazi rule. Catherine and his lover Herve aren’t too happy to see that Christian creates and sells dresses to Nazi soldiers and their wives so they can flaunt them at their parties.

Christian doesn’t like it any more than they do but has no say because he’ll be gunned down as soon as he refuses. Therefore, faced with the looming threat of death, Christian feels compelled to sell his dresses to Lucien Lelong, who then sells them to Nazis.

At the same time, Coco Chanel manages to persuade Nazi commanders to spare her nephew André’s life. However, this act was not out of goodwill, as Commander Schellenberg had his own agenda, the first part of which was to make Coco feel indebted to the Nazis. Additionally, Coco discovers that her business partner has swindled her, leaving her with no money in her account.

Coco is then summoned to Schellenberg’s party, with Andre’s arrest looming if she refuses. At the dinner table, Coco finds herself surrounded by Nazis and their questions, one of which is about Lucien Lelong. According to Coco, Lucien has no talent for design and merely steals his employees’ creations. He’s a man who just scribbles on paper, Coco means. 

Schellenberg offers to resolve Coco’s personal and financial woes using the Aryan laws, which allow the Nazis to disregard legal protections, especially for Jews. Coco is promised that she will regain control of her company if she helps end the war between Germany and Britain. Schellenberg asks her to meet him the next day to discuss the specifics.

As the episode unfolds, Catherine learns that the Nazi forces have raided the resistance students’ house. When the students refuse to cooperate, the higher-ups order their execution by firing squad to instil fear in others. Herve asks Catherine to deliver a message to their friends so they can help the students.

Trouble arises when Christian has to hurry to a ball party because the dress he had designed for a Nazi leader’s wife has torn. In truth, the woman tore the dress herself to alert Christian about Catherine’s arrest.

She warns Christian that the Gestapo are searching for Catherine like hunting dogs. Christian rushes to save his sister, but Catherine is kidnapped. As for the students, they are sent to the firing squad and face a barrage of bullets.

The Episode Review

Episode 1 of The New Look starts off with a bang, giving us a peek into the world of one of the most influential fashion designers ever. It’s always exciting to learn about such creative minds!

But in order to understand Christian’s story and why he chose to make dresses for Nazi wives, we have to face the harsh realities of World War II, including the horrors carried out by the Nazis. Was it about survival, or was money the driving force?

Looks like we’ll have to stay tuned for episode 2 to find out!