The world of fashion has always been a magnet for its cast of eccentric characters and high drama. Yet 2024 has been a bumper year for clothing intrigue on the small screen, with countless documentaries, biopics and TV series attempting to unravel the inner workings of the industry. Disney+ In fashion: 90s And Cristobal BalenciagaTo Apple TVs Supermodels And New LookIt seems like every few weeks there’s a new fashion-focused series to watch.
Here’s what’s next Housea 10-episode series coming to Apple TV this weekend, right in the middle of fashion month. It’s been called France’s answer to InheritanceThe film is about the family power struggle at the helm of Ledu, a fictional French fashion house that collapses after its designer of 40 years, Vincent Ledu (played by Lambert Wilson), is caught making racist remarks.
Adding to the family drama is the fact that Vincent’s estranged brother Victor (Pierre Deladonchamps) is married to the daughter of Ledu’s arch-enemy Rovel, and his mother-in-law Diane (Carole Bouquet) is out to get revenge on Ledu. Meanwhile, Vincent’s former muse Perle (Amira Casar) has placed Paloma Castel (Zita Hanrot), a rising sustainable designer in the style of Marine Serre, Clara Daguin and Victor Weinsanto, in the top seat, much to the family’s displeasure.
It’s no wonder that fashion has become such a compelling television and movie staple since the machinations of American Vogue and Anna Wintour. The Devil Wears Prada Gucci family murder plot Gucci HouseAfter all, in addition to being incredibly eye-catching (and therefore visually pleasing), there’s also a lot of money involved, which means high drama.
“The fashion industry has always been a focus of popular culture,” he says Vogue Business Lucy Maguire. “It’s exclusive, it’s glamorous, it’s celebrity-focused and it’s constantly evolving. And even now, with so much of the industry captured and shared through people’s phones, audiences are still left wondering what goes on behind closed doors. Often the more fantastical the depictions, the more appealing they are.”
“Fashion has long been a rarefied, closed-off world, with insights here and there, but that has changed with the advent of social media, whose ubiquity has probably served to increase people’s interest and appetite for it, because they can now get it on tap,” says freelance fashion editor Jessica Bumpus. “Everyone loves a good story, and fashion is full of myths, legends, so the story goes on—type anecdotes. In a world that is so online, you had to be there in real life to know.”
Those familiar with the subject will inevitably draw parallels between the show’s protagonists and some of fashion’s key players. “We approached this with the same care that a fashion house would give to a collection,” said showrunner Valentine Milville Earth Day“We tried to create real identities for the brands and houses we represent.”
First, Vincent’s downfall recalls designer John Galliano’s infamous anti-Semitic outbursts in October 2010 and February 2011, which were recorded by bystanders and widely shared with the media, and which ultimately led to his departure from Dior.
Then there’s the intrigue between the Ledu family and their rivals the Rovels over who owns the biggest fashion empire, which brings to mind fashion’s real-life dueling titans, Bernard Arnault and François-Henri Pinault. The former’s LVMH roster includes 75 established fashion, jewelry, cosmetics and beverage brands, including Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton, while the latter’s Kering Group has a handful of major brands, most notably Gucci, Balenciaga and Saint Laurent.
Their rivalry lasted for decades, but began in earnest in the 1990s after Arnault secretly bought a 34% stake in fashion house Gucci, slowly increasing his stake. Unhappy with this outcome, Gucci’s then-designer Tom Ford turned on Pinault, and Pinault helped stage a coup, effectively buying out a majority stake and causing Arnault’s share price to plummet in the process.
Since then, there has been a fashion cold war between the two, with occasional flare-ups, such as when Kering bought a 51% stake in Alexander McQueen’s eponymous brand while LVMH was at the helm of stablemate Givenchy. Similar financial spats erupted over Fendi in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when LVMH teamed up with Prada to prevent Kering from taking full control of the brand. Today, LVMH generates $93 billion in annual profits, compared to $21 billion for Kering Group, and Arnault is one of the world’s five richest men.
Actress Carole Bouquet plays Diane Rovel, the head of Ledu’s rival, and bears clear similarities to Arnault; her character is referred to as the richest woman in Europe and the “she-wolf in a suit”, a spoof of Arnault’s real-life nickname of “wolf in cashmere”.
Meanwhile, Lambert Wilson, who plays Vincent Ledu, cited Hubert de Givenchy as his inspiration and said: Earth Day“There are a lot of conflicts in the series: generational conflicts and social conflicts. He’s an aristocrat and that makes a huge difference. They know they have power. I thought of Hubert de Givenchy, who seems to be the epitome of all this.”