The New Look, Kaiser Karl... Why are streaming platforms interested in big designers?

Solène Delinger 5:54 p.m., February 13, 2024

Karl Lagerfeld on Canal, Balenciaga on Disney+, Dior and Chanel on Apple TV... The great fashion designers are everywhere on our screens! An obviously exciting new trend for all fashion fans. But why this sudden craze of platforms for haute couture? This trend actually owes nothing to chance...

First of all, we know that biopics have been a hit for years. We saw it with

on Freddie Mercury,

on Elton John… but not only that! Remember, in 2015: two Yves Saint Laurents faced each other in the cinema: one played by Gaspard Ulliel, the other by Pierre Niney. 

The real turning point takes place in 2021 with the release of the film

by Ridley Scott... $153 million at the box office, an Oscar nomination, and a five-star cast with Lady Gaga, Adam Driver and Camille Cottin. Such success inevitably attracts the attention of productions. Result, three years later: five series on fashion are arriving on the platforms… The most anticipated is 

, available from Wednesday February 14 on Apple TV. In this series, Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) and Coco Chanel (Juliette Binoche) face off.

Fashion designers are stars

This duel at the top obviously interests producers and the public. Because, let us remember, great couturiers are above all stars. They fascinate and will always fascinate in the same way as Elvis Presley or Bob Marley. Their hits are clothes: the Chanel mini skirt, the Dior bar jacket or the Mondrian dress by Yves Saint Laurent. We admire their creative genius, their gift, their talent, their madness too. In fact, everything that makes them extraordinary personalities in the literal sense of the word.

The simple name Lagerfeld evokes this mystery, which the documentary series

attempts to unravel, on My Canal. Carla Bruni, Pharell Williams, Cara Delevingne… Those close to her tell the story of the man behind the character with the silver ponytail. It's researched, it's documented and we really learn things like the fact that Lagerfeld was a big spender: he was always buying houses and showering his lover Jacques de Bascher with gifts. For those who are still wondering: Disney+ is currently producing a fiction called

… German actor Daniel Brühl will play the role of the fashion designer. 

With a sometimes troubled past...

These series highlight unusual characters, but they also reveal behind the scenes. We discover the gray areas of these fashion icons with obviously Coco Chanel who collaborated with the Nazis in

Chanel and her collaboration with the Nazis. At the same time, Christian Dior's sister, played by Maisie Williams, joins the Resistance. Through their journey, the story of an entire era is told. On Disney+, Cristobal Balenciaga flees the Spanish Civil War at the end of the 1930s and arrives in Paris with dreams in his head, and his fabrics in his suitcases.

The costumes in the series are absolutely incredible, they are filmed down to the smallest detail: we see Balenciaga sewing, retouching dresses, each more sublime than the next... And it's the same in

with Dior and Chanel: you're going to be amazed by the beauty of these iconic pieces!

Finally, for all fans of fashion shows, there is obviously

on Apple TV. This series tells the extraordinary destiny of Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington. The modeling queens who have enhanced these creations for years... They talk in front of the camera, they comment on archive images, it's fascinating! To have their perspective on their own career 30 years later... and what a joy to see them again in

George Michael's