The New Look on Apple TV Plus is a remarkable story following the lives of renowned fashion designers Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) and Coco Chanel (Juliette Binoche) against the devastating backdrop of World War II.
The eighth episode of the series introduces Carmel Snow, the Editor-in-Chief of Harper's Bazaar. We first meet her while she is dining with Coco Chanel in Switzerland, where Coco is still hiding out after her Nazi collaborations during the war. She is desperate to return to Paris and start selling her new perfumes, and Carmel promises she will help make that happen.
Meanwhile, back in Paris, Dior and Raymonde Zehnacker are searching for models to showcase his first solo collection, however, Dior is determined he will play fair and won't steal models from rival designers. Raymonde jokes that maybe they should put an advert in the newspaper asking for first-time models and Dior thinks it is a great idea.
Catherine is still recuperating at her father's house in the country and they head to a local market to buy plants for the garden. While there they bump into Tania's father, the man Catherine met at the repatriation center. He asks if she still has Tania's photo and Catherine confirms that she has, but that she still doesn't know what happened to her.
Coco feels brighter after meeting with Carmel Snow and is sure things will soon be back on track. However, Elsa is still hanging around, convinced that Coco will stay true to her word and make her a business partner. But Elsa is proving to be a thorn in Coco's side, looking downtrodden and clearly addicted to the sleeping aid the pair have been using.
But soon Elsa and her addictions are the least of Coco's troubles when she gets a letter addressed to 'Agent Westminster' - the codename the Nazis gave her during the war. Coco goes to meet the sender and it turns out to be from Spatz, the man she had a fling with. She accuses him of abandoning him, but he says he had to flee and now has a new identity because of his own collaborations with the Nazis and now goes by the name of Peter Lang, a silk merchant.
He asks Coco for money and she says she will help if he helps her get back to Paris and away from her Nazi connections. He agrees and they head back to her hotel to talk, however, Spatz isn't happy to see Elsa there as she is bound to blow his cover and suggests to Coco that Elsa could be a British spy working for MI6.
Carmel meanwhile is back in Paris and working her way around all the well-known designers and Boussac isn't happy that there is now a long line of prostitutes outside the door of Dior following the newspaper advertisement. He has a go at Dior, telling him that isn't the look they're going for with their fashion house and tells him to get rid of the women before Snow arrives.
Dior however sees potential in the women, and one in particular catches his eye. He asks her for a fitting and is thrilled when she agrees to model his new collection. His father calls and tells him that he wants him to visit his brother the following day, but Dior is too busy with his work and at a crucial stage of his collection. Their phone call doesn't end well, but Jacques convinces him to listen to his father and Christian agrees to see Bernard.
He gets on the train to visit his brother, Bernard, who is in a psychiatric hospital. They sit for a while together and talk about their family, before going on a walk where Bernard talks to Christian about the light and dark that make up a human and the dancing of leaves in the countryside. His words give Dior inspiration and on the way home he sketches his new collection.
Meanwhile, back in Paris, Carmel Snow has come to the Dior house to see his collection. Raymonde apologizes for the fact Christian is out of town and Snow is impressed with what she sees but says there isn't a defining piece for the collection yet.
There is bad news for Coco when Carmel tells her that she can't do a big feature on her after all because of the rumors about her Nazi collaborations. Harper's wants her to write about a great new collection rising from the ashes of war, and that's not Coco. She does, however, agree to come back to Switzerland the following week to sample Coco's new perfumes.
But things get even more complicated for Coco when Elsa, totally hooked on the sleeping aid drug, desperately searches through Coco's belongings for more drugs. Spatz catches her and realizes what is happening, promising to get her what she wants if she comes with him. Coco catches the pair together and throws them both out, leaving them to head to see Spatz's friend who is sorting out false papers for him. But while he leaves Elsa in the car, she sees a pharmacy and heads in, asking for their strongest narcotics, causes a terrible scene and ends up getting herself arrested. Not quite the low profile Coco was hoping for.
Carmel returns to Switzerland and loves Coco's perfumes, but nonetheless, there is little she can do to help Coco while she has these rumors hanging over her. Coco tells Carmel she sees Switzerland as a prison and Carmel says that while she can't write about her in Harper's, she will take Coco's perfumes back to Paris and make sure they get into the right hands.
The end of the episode sees a huge moment for Dior his name is hung above the door of his fashion house in Paris. However, the moment is bittersweet when Jacques arrives and breaks the news his father has died suddenly following a heart attack in the garden with Catherine by his side.
Dior is heartbroken over his father's death and goes into his office, tearing down all the beautiful designs for his collection from the walls... but while Raymonde is horrified by his actions, he simply tells her 'I've found it, the definitive piece' and pins up a sketch he did after being inspired by his brother.
The New Look is available to stream worldwide on Apple TV Plus.
