The New Look Episode 5 Recap: 11 Biggest Reveals

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for The New Look episode 5.

The New Look is officially halfway through its first season, with episode 5 taking a major step towards Christian Dior finally opening his own couture house in 1946. The New Look episode 4 focused on the changes taking place in Paris following the end of the Nazi occupation and the different effects it had on Dior and Coco Chanel. The New Look episode 5 continued this storyline, with Coco having fled to Switzerland and Christian capitalizing off the success of Théâtre de la Mode.

The New Look will have 10 episodes in total, and with the ending of episode 5, the story has been split into pre-House of Dior and its ascent to becoming one of the biggest couture houses in fashion history. Meanwhile, Coco has been experiencing her own struggles with the French government, her business partners, and her reputation. The New Look characters appear to be going in different directions, but The New Look episode 1 showed that they will eventually clash when Coco makes her famous return.

11 Christian Dior Saw Édith Piaf Perform

Christian refused to mourn Catherine

Since The New Look is based on a true story, many iconic figures of the time have appeared in the Apple TV+ series. In The New Look episode 4, French actress Joséphine de La Baume guest starred as Arletty, and in episode 5, French singer Olivia Ruiz appeared as the iconic Édith Piaf. Christian attended one of her performances with his lover Jacques, providing some levity during a rough time for Dior.

During Piaf’s performance, she acknowledged the collective mourning the country was experiencing from World War II. She asked everyone who was mourning someone to stand up as she dedicated a song to those that had been lost to the Nazis. While Jacques stood, Christian sat, refusing to mourn Catherine as she was possibly still alive. He only stood when Jacques asked him to, so he wouldn’t be alone. The clairvoyant gave Christian hope in The New Look episode 4, and he held onto it.

10 Christian Was Interviewing Designers For Lelong

Lelong needed a replacement for Balmain

After Balmain left Lelong in The New Look episode 4 to start his own house, Christian became Lelong’s main designer. As such, Lelong tasked him with interviewing new candidates to replace Balmain. This included Italian-born designer Pierre Cardin, who had been born Pietro but changed his name when he moved to France.

Though Christian initially didn’t want to meet with him, as he believed it would be ridiculous to replace one Pierre with another, he found himself charmed by the younger designer. Unfortunately, Lelong didn’t feel the same way. Cardin went on to become head of Christian Dior’s tailleure atelier before starting his own house, suggesting that he’ll play a bigger role in future episodes of The New Look.

9 André’s Illness Was Getting Worse

André had tuberculosis

During his time in a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp, Coco’s nephew André contracted tuberculosis. Unfortunately, despite the time that had passed and the effort put towards taking care of him, his illness was only getting worse. A doctor in Switzerland told them there wasn’t much hope for recovery outside of experimental treatment. The New Look episode 5 showed a softer side of Coco as she cared for her nephew and her namesake, his young daughter Gabrielle.

8 Dior Hadn’t Signed His Contract With Lelong

Christian was waiting for Catherine to come home

Following Théâtre de la Mode, Christian had been given months to sign his contract with Lelong but hadn’t signed it yet. When Lelong confronted him, he told his boss that he wanted to keep his options open for when he found Catherine, just in case he’d have to relocate. Lucien and his other designer friends did their best to help Christian move on, not wanting him to put his life on pause for something that may never happen. However, Christian had faith that she’d return and almost all his time was spent preparing for that day.

7 The French Government Refused To Let Coco’s Assets Cross Borders

Coco wanted to sell her assets to buy a house

When Coco Chanel left Paris, she knew she would have to live in exile, unable to return. Still, the French government, determined to punish Coco for her connections with the Nazis, didn’t make her life in Switzerland easy. Coco was running out of money and wanted to buy a house to help André recover, but she didn’t have the cash to make the purchase.

The French government wasn’t allowing Coco’s assets to leave the country’s borders, putting Coco in a bind. She was so determined to buy the house that she was willing to sell her assets, which included her stock in the House of Chanel. Her lawyer advised against it and refused to adhere to her requests, knowing it would be a bad decision in the long run.

6 Coco Found Chanel No. 5 Being Sold In Stores

The Wertheimers were selling the perfume without Coco’s knowledge

While Coco struggled financially, the Wertheimers were still making money off Chanel No. 5, the perfume they’d created together. Coco made this discovery when she saw it on the shelves in a store in Switzerland. Knowing that there’d been a shortage of the perfume, she bought all 60 bottles to be shipped to her producer to confirm whether the Wertheimers were selling knockoffs with a new formula in The New Look episode 5.

It was confirmed that the Wertheimers had been producing Chanel No. 5 out of a factory in Hoboken, New Jersey without Chanel’s permission, let alone profit. Upon hearing this, Coco wanted to sue the Wertheimers, but her lawyer put his foot down once again. He knew that public sympathy was with the Wertheimers, and it would be a bad look for Coco if she were to sue her Jewish business partners. The Wertheimers were looking for revenge on Coco for trying to use Aryan laws against them, and Chanel No. 5 provided them the opportunity to do so.

5 André Had To Go To Paris For Experimental Treatment

André didn’t want to leave Coco

The doctor doing the experimental tuberculosis treatment agreed to take André on as a patient. Unfortunately, he wasn’t willing to go to Switzerland. Rather, he asked André to meet him in France, where Coco could not return. Coco just wanted her nephew healthy, so she urged him to go to Paris with Gabrielle while she stayed behind in Switzerland. Though it was a difficult decision and left Coco without any family in an unfamiliar land, she made it to save the man she’d raised as if he were her own son.

4 Catherine Was Picked Up By Allied Forces

Catherine was not at the train station when Christian arrived

After months of no news, Catherine and Christian’s father heard that she had been rescued from the concentration camp by Allied forces and would be returning to Paris via train. Still, this didn’t mean she would be healthy or alive, as they’d heard many people died during transport. When Christian arrived at the train station with flowers, he was joined by many other jubilant Parisians. However, their demeanor changed greatly when they saw the conditions their loved ones were in when they stepped off the train.

Dior looked frantically for his sister but could not find her. Some passengers hadn’t made the journey, but she wasn’t among them either. Without any answers as to where Catherine had gone, Christian finally lost hope. He returned to the clairvoyant, accusing her of lying to him, but she told him he just needed to continue to have faith, even though all signs were pointing towards Catherine having died.

3 Coco Was Robbed At Gunpoint

Coco’s driver had arranged the robbery

Due to her financial troubles and unwillingness to change her luxurious lifestyle, Coco hadn’t paid her driver in months. When he asked for a paycheck, she dismissed him, ordering him to drive the Chanel No. 5 bottles to be shipped. However, when she realized that Gabrielle had left behind her stuffed animal, she insisted on coming with him to try and meet them at the station before dropping off the perfume.

When their car broke down in The New Look episode 5, they were confronted by two gunmen. Coco ran into the woods but fell and hurt her ankle. The gunmen intended to kill her, but her driver told them not to shoot, revealing that he’d planned the “robbery” of the Chanel No. 5 bottles to make some money as she hadn’t been paying him. They drove off to finish their plan, leaving Coco to hitchhike back to her new hotel.

2 Dior Wanted To Start His Own House

Christian wanted to bring hope back to Paris

Throughout The New Look episode 5, one of Christian’s friends was trying to get him to speak to Marcel Boussac, a textile manufacturer and “the wealthiest man in France,” as he was looking for a new designer. After failing to find Catherine, Christian set up the meeting. Except, instead of discussing the position he was being recruited for, Dior proposed his own plan for a new house.

Christian told Boussac about how after seeing how poorly the concentration camp survivors were, he didn’t know how he was ever supposed to forgive the Nazis and their sympathizers. Rather than sinking into despair, Christian felt inspired in a new way. He knew that the world would need joy and hope after so much pain and loss, and he believed he could bring that to people through his designs. Boussac was impressed with his proposal, with The New Look episode 5 finally planting the seeds for DIOR.

1 Catherine Arrived At Christian’s Home

Catherine was very sick

While Christian was out at his meeting, Catherine arrived at his house appearing worse for wear. The New Look episode 5 didn’t reveal how Catherine was able to get to the house but showed her lying in bed, sickly and in need of immediate medical attention. Despite her poor state, the combination of Catherine returning home and the start of DIOR, things are looking up for Christian in The New Look.

Where To Watch The New Look