Glenn Close, Maisie Williams Turn Out for ‘The New Look’ Premiere
For the cast of “The New Look,” the week’s biggest event wasn’t New York Fashion Week.
“I’m on the plane back to Montana, if it doesn’t snow,” said Glenn Close, who portrays Harper’s Bazaar editor Carmel Snow in the Apple TV+ show about the pre-, mid- and post-war years in the lives of Christian and Catherine Dior, Coco Chanel, among others.
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Echoed Maisie Williams, who played Catherine Dior, “I’m in town for this show, and using every opportunity I can to get in a fashion moment,” gesturing to her leather ensemble.
The premiere, which took place Monday in New York before an after party at The Pool, was just one of two for Juliette Binoche, who portrayed Coco Chanel.
“This show was like going into a marathon, the longest I’ve been through in my life,” Binoche said of portraying the fashion great. “I’m in town for this show, and a film I’ve done called ‘The Taste of Things,’ which is out the same day.”
Playing Chanel came with a trove of new knowledge about the designer, Binoche said. “I didn’t know she came from such a traumatic childhood… after that, I think a lot of her life was in parentheses.”
John Malkovich, who took on the role of Lucien Lelong, emphasized that the series “is more focused on the personal lives, struggles, difficulties, complications of Christian and Coco.”
The project did change the actors’ preconceived notions of fashion. “It deepened the appreciation I have for the essential role that fashion plays in our society,” said Ben Mendelsohn, who stars as Christian Dior.
Playing the designer, he said, “is daunting. The thing about Christian is you can’t do him justice, even if you give him everything you’ve got. But you can write a love letter to him.”
For Close, it also changed her perception of the fashion industry.
“I’m not a shopper — that’s panic time,” Close said. “I’m afraid of accessories, they terrify me. But to learn about these stories resonated with me because you understand who they were and the people behind them. It changed my whole idea of couture.
“I always thought couture, because it’s expensive to make, was just for spoiled rich people. And in a way, it is,” Close continued, “but it’s also an art form, and I learned much more about it being an art form than what I had been aware of.”
Launch Gallery: Glenn Close, Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche Attend Apple TV+'s "The New Look" World Premiere and After Party
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