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 New Look episode 4 opens with Coco Chanel celebrating Paris being liberated from Nazi occupation after four long years, but as Coco drinks champagne with her nephew, Andre, his Cambridge friend Oscar Davies, and her famous actress friend, Arletty, things a more somber affair for Christian Dior.
Still in the dark about his sister, Catherine's, fate after she was captured by the Nazis and taken to a prisoner-of-war camp, we find him at the start of episode 4 at a clairvoyant evening.
We know from episode one that Dior believes in such things, but when he fails to have a reading, Madame Delahaye catches him as he is about to leave and says she sees someone he loves is trapped and also foresees him holding a baby. Christian knows nothing of a baby and leaves the event, but not before taking her card.
Meanwhile, Arletty turns up at Coco's Ritz suite, terrified because the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) are at her apartment looking for her. While the Nazis might be gone, there is still danger for women in Paris with the FFI who have taken to shaving the heads of women who they believe were in collaboration with the Nazis during the war before marching them down the street with swastikas drawn on their heads.
Arletty was known to have a German officer boyfriend during the war, and despite refusing to appear in any Nazi propaganda films, she knows it is only a matter of time before her love affair catches up with her. Coco is sympathetic but secretly thinks about her affair with Spatz and the circumstances of Barron's arrest, both of which Andre is still oblivious to.
Soon Arletty is captured and despite being a world-famous actress, she is stripped and beaten in the street, while Coco is also arrested and taken in for questioning. The FFI know about her involvement with the Nazis but are struggling to find evidence... and soon she gets released after telling them her friend Churchill would be upset to know they are grilling her.
But unfortunately for Coco, the FFI aren't going to let her go that easily. They set up Andre's friend Oscar, who is revealed to be working with MI6 to protect himself from the consequences of his own collaboration with the Nazis, to introduce her to Malcolm Muggeridge, a journalist for the London Telegraph who worked as a spy for the British government during the war.
They plan to get Coco to incriminate herself in the interview, giving them evidence to charge her with collaborating with the Nazis, however, Oscar can't bring himself to put Coco and his friend Andre in danger and he ends up telling them what is happening so that they can flee Paris, before getting drunk and killing himself before he can be arrested.
Meanwhile. Lucian Lelong has a plan to revive hope in Paris and put French couture back on the map by putting together the Théâtre de la Mode, or 'Theatre of Fashion', a show to be held at the Louvre featuring French fashion designers. But there is a catch, with barely any fabric left in Paris after the Nazis burnt it all, instead of dressing real women, they would be making tiny dresses for doll-sized mannequins.
The designers of Masion Lelong get to work, but Christian's heart isn't in it as he continues to think about Catherine and whether she is even still alive. Before he can concentrate on designing, he knows he needs to go and visit his father, who is still in the dark about Catherine's ordeal.
He heads to a French village to see his father, who is understandably devastated by the news. However, he soon blames Christian, telling him he has let Catherine down by not keeping her safe and the pair argue.
Coco and Andre flee the city before the FFI can catch up with them and we see them heading to the French countryside, while Dior is also making plans to leave the city, which is full of memories of Catherine. But as he packs up his apartment and goes to leave, he finds an abandoned baby on the steps of a church. We see him go to the baby and hold it while they wait for nuns to come, and suddenly he realizes that Madame Delahaye's premonition has come true.
Going to visit Madame Delahaye with a renewed belief, Christian asks her if Catherine is still alive. She tells him that Catherine will return one day, but that he needs to find his own life again. Realizing that he needs to throw himself back into his work, Christian returns to Paris and designs for the Louvre exhibition, which turns out to be a huge success, with Dior's creations receiving the most praise.
The New Look is available worldwide on Apple TV Plus.
