Maisie Williams and the rest of the cast of the new AppleTV+ biographical drama TV series, The New Look, delivered looks that deeply resonated with the nostalgic spirit of the post-war era as they gathered at the Florence Gould Hall in New York City on Monday night for the premiere of the Tom Kessler-helmed series.
Now streaming on Apple TV+, The New Look chronicles the life of Christian Dior, his rivalry with Coco Chanel, and how he revolutionized fashion and successfully established himself in the 1947 Paris fashion scene following the Nazi invasion of Paris during World War II.
Playing the role of Catherine Dior in the series, Maisie Williams dressed on theme, wearing a black leather dress that alluded to the house’s iconic New Look style.
Maisie Williams, Ben Mendelsohn, Juliette Binoche, John Malkovich, Glenn Close, and director Todd A. Kessler at the New York premiere of The New Look at Florence Gould Hall on February 12, 2024 (Credit: Marion Curtis / StarPix for Apple / INSTARimages)
Maisie Williams Pulls Off New Look in Vintage Comme des Garçons Leather Dress
Williams mirrored Christian Dior’s renowned silhouette in an off-the-shoulder black leather dress pulled from Japanese fashion label Comme des Garçons’ Fall 1987 archives as an homage to the inspiration behind the period drama series.
The dress featured a structured bodice that resembled a dramatic shawl with an enormous off-the-shoulder style that encased her arms and wrapped around her torso, creating a cross-over plunging V-neckline.
It had a cinched waist that flowed into a voluminous, subtly pleated A-line skirt that stopped below her knees.
Maisie Williams mirrors Christian Dior’s New Look in a vintage black leather dress by Comme des Garçons featuring a shawl-effect bodice, a cinched waist, and a voluminous skirt (Credit: Roger Wong / INSTARimages)
Vintage Elegance at the Premiere
In keeping with the post-war aesthetic, the Game of Thrones star kept the rest of her accessories vintage.
She paired her classic monochrome dress, which focused more on the shape emulating Dior’s famous New Look, with black sheer gloves and tights, finished with feminine black pointed-toe Mary Jane pumps.
Letting her New Look-inspired outfit speak for itself, Maisie opted to forgo wearing jewelry save for a pair of dangling diamond earrings.
The retro aspect of her look didn’t stop at her outfit. She looked straight out of the 1940s with her brunette hair fashioned in pin curls, a hairstyle that gained popularity in that decade created using the finger-waving technique. An angled black beret, which was a symbol of sophisticated French fashion, topped off her vintage ensemble.
In addition, her burgundy red lipstick and rich layers of mascara further enhanced the look.
Maisie Williams looks straight out of the 1940s as she wears pin curls and burgundy red lipstick with an angled beret and sheer gloves (Credit: Roger Wong / INSTARimages)
Method Dressing by the Cast
Aside from Maisie Williams, Juliette Binoche, who plays Coco Chanel in The New Look, also adopted method dressing and wore a dress that emulated Christian Dior’s New Look.
The 59-year-old French actress donned a black Dior dress that, aside from the ankle-length skirt, mirrored the designer’s iconic silhouette with its shawl-like shoulders and tight waist. It also came with a plunging V-neckline, giving her gorgeous French-chic outfit a sensual flair.
Like Maisie, Binoche accessorized her classy ensemble with opera gloves; hers were black leather and matched perfectly with her black leather boots. She completed her avant-garde look with a large cartwheel hat.
Ben Mendelsohn, portraying Christian Dior in the series, looked elegant in his double-breasted Dior suit styled with a glittering brooch, a crisp white shirt, and shiny dress shoes.
Maisie Williams with The New Look co-stars Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche clad in vintage-inspired outfits by Dior (Credit: Barbara Hine / Future Image / Cover Images)
Maisie Williams Embraces Retro Fashion for Period Drama The New Look Press Tour
Maisie Williams has been taking cues from Dior’s New Look while on the press tour for her new period drama series, donning ensembles that evoked the house’s voguish, ultra-feminine silhouette.
After the premiere, the Doctor Who actress donned another vintage ensemble. She chose a red-and-white patterned co-ord from Vivienne Westwood’s archives for Tuesday’s The Drew Barrymore Show appearance.
She wore an exquisite suit jacket with rounded, padded shoulders and a cinched waist, mirroring the New Look style.
Maisie Williams wears a red-and-white patterned skirt suit from Vivienne Westwood’s archival collection for her appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show on February 13, 2024 (Credit: Roger Wong / INSTARimages)
Maisie teamed the chic blazer top with a micro mini skirt and wrapped her legs in black sheer tights before slipping her feet into a pair of black Mary Jane pumps by Manolo Blahnik.
The $895 “Campari” pumps are intricately crafted from black point d’esprit mesh with tonal grosgrain trims and leather pointed-toe caps. Perched on a 4-inch stiletto heel, they are fastened to the foot with a buttoned strap across the vamps.
Maisie wore black sheer gloves and topped her retro pin curls with a leopard-print pillbox hat to finish her elegant vintage look.
Maisie Williams dons a pair of sheer black tights and Manolo Blahnik’s Campari mesh pumps to complete a retro look (Credit: Roger Wong / INSTARimages)
Maisie Williams Evokes 1940s Glitz and Glamour
Maisie attended the Apple TV+ 2024 Winter TCA Tour presentation early this month, wearing a glamorous all-black ensemble from Erdem’s Pre-Fall 2023 collection.
Channeling the glitz and glamor of the 1940s, Williams donned a black suit jacket with sparkling black beadwork adorning one side of the bodice and around one sleeve. It also had a plunging neckline, tiny ruffles, and a peplum-style tiered pleated hem.
The same gorgeous beading and ruffles adorned her black grain de poudre midi skirt, currently on sale at Matches Fashion for $1,438 (originally $2,876).
View this post on Instagram
Her accessories enhanced the vintage feel of her outfit. She exuded 1940s elegance with her transparent gloves and black Noel Stewart pillbox hat on top of her curled tresses.
Although not visible, Maisie Williams’ outfit was finished with black patent Paris Texas “Livia” pumps, on sale for $426 (from $710) at Farfetch.
The Behind-the-Scenes Process in Recreating Dior’s Famous Fashion Creations
The New Look costume designer Karen Muller revealed to Hello! Magazine the intricate process they had in recreating Dior’s iconic fashion designs.
“I started by reading the scripts and then documenting them with images to get an idea of the atmosphere before building storyboards around that.”
She also mentioned collaborating with Hélène Starkman, Christian Dior’s Cultural Projects Manager, to recreate classic ensembles from two of Christian Dior’s significant fashion shows: his debut 1947 collection and his 1956 Paris presentation.
Karen, who was responsible for selecting 10 to 12 outfits from a total of 90 for each collection, said she chose the best silhouettes that reflected the styles from both fashion shows.
Maisie Williams stars as Catherine Dior in Apple TV+’s The New Look (Credit: Apple Studios)
“We started off by looking at what there was in the archives, plus sketches and anything from the press at that time. Once we got that, we chose the dresses.”
“They didn’t have any dresses in the 1947 archive, except for the Bar Suit, which has been recreated before, and so we could see that. Otherwise, it was looking at swatches of cloth which we used for our colour boards to recreate identical colours. Anything we could choose that had prints on them that were big enough, we chose and got them printed.”
“We always started off by making cloth patterns to begin with, which we then fitted onto our models. Then Hélène would come along, and we would stand with all the documents we had on each dress and see where a seam needed to be moved, where a waist needed to be higher or lower, or where a hemline wasn’t quite right and adjusted it all before cutting anything else in the real cloth.”