In the first scene of The New Look, we come across the tense backstage of a Maison Dior fashion show, with Madame Raymonde Zehnacker (Zabou Breitman) coordinating everything. At the same time, no one can locate Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn), who is consulting with his tarot reader, Madame Delahaye (Darina Al Joundi). It’s easy to see that, although the brand is Dior, Raymonde is in charge. After talking about the two women who guided Christian’s creative side when he revolutionized fashion, his sister Catherine (Maise Williams) and Madame Delahaye, it is worth looking at the woman who made the Dior brand a business and whose partnership with the designer was fundamental to your career.

Behind the scenes, Dior’s “perfect complement”

“Raymonde would become my second self,” Christian Dior summed up in his autobiography, published in 1951, Je Suis Couturier. “Or to be more precise, my other half. She is my exact complement: she gives reason to my fantasy, order to my imagination, discipline to my freedom, foresight to my recklessness, and knows how to introduce peace into an atmosphere of conflict. In short, she… successfully guided me through the intricate world of fashion, to which I was still a novice in 1947.”

This paragraph could be summed up in episode 7 of The New Look when Madame Zehnacker’s entry into Christian’s venture is the conclusive element for the creative movement that he would begin and shake the world. Without her, as the series shows, there would be no Dior.

Yes, Dior was a man and gay. Still, contrary to what Chanel (Juliette Binoche) rudely accuses him of, he cared a lot about women, so much so that he often referred to those closest to him as variations of himself. Although people refer to the three who worked directly with him, we see in The New Look that there were five (with Catherine and Delahaye), and among the three “mothers” the largest was precisely Zehnacker.

Unshakable professional partnership and leader of the “military high command”

Madame Raymonde Zehnacker – or Madame Raymonde – was the brand’s director and the iron fist hidden in the silks and velvets of the Dior house. She was the one who guaranteed efficiency and left him with only one concern: creating.

They met when they worked for Lucien Lelong (John Malkovich) and always understood each other perfectly. “Your blue eyes express everything and don’t miss anything,” he said. She was one of his best friends.

Understanding Christian Dior was easy for Madame Raymonde who helped him negotiate the installation of the atelier on Avenue Montaigne. She was the one, with Madame Marguerite and Madame Bricard, who saw the designer’s sketches firsthand. If they liked it, he knew he was on the right path. They formed what he called the “military high command” of his operation.

As she was the person who controlled costs, suppliers, and deliveries, Madame Raymonde was also involved in setting the prices for a Dior piece, considering the material and the number of working hours for each one. Dior herself comments that, in a matter of days, more than 12,000 samples passed before her eyes, as she selected the fabrics for each collection, some of them exclusive, knowing what would please Christian.

The trust between the two was such that Madame Raymonde coordinated all the teams that made the “magic” as Christian retired to the countryside, where he designed his collection, generally just two months before the presentation.

The toiles were shown to Christian Dior in two or three models. This allowed him to reduce the drawings to “silhouettes, cuts, lines”, from which the entire collection would be constructed. He avoided cutting them into difficult fabrics before the final prototype was chosen. The toile was the focus of many decisions: the neckline, the sleeve, and the length, were adjusted to better match the couturier’s idea. This is called “creating impressions”. These initial choices established the broad outlines of the collection. And who prepared the map? Yes, Madame Raymonde personally, separated everything into large sheets of paper as detailed as possible, which helped to have an overview and the organization of the parade, ensuring balance.

When Christian chose the fabric he would work with, “Madame Raymonde returns to her seat,” he described in his book, “records the fabric in her book, makes a note that she must inform the manufacturer, and passes the process on to Frontline, which will send it to stock.”

Without her, nothing would happen!

Dior’s professional “heir”

On Dior’s death, at just 52 years old, the company was left by will to his sister, Catherine, and her partner, Raymonde Zehnacker, who, with Yves Saint-Laurent, continued the Maison Dior.

There are reports that Madame Raymonde’s involvement included Christian’s personal life, although the series The New Look does not demonstrate this. According to biographers, she did not have the best relationship with the designer’s last boyfriend, Jacques Benita, the Moroccan singer thirty years younger than Dior who somewhat interfered with the designer’s inner circle by demanding and obtaining public displays of affection, something taboo at the time.

Madame Raymonde was intimate enough to be the person who reprimanded Dior’s terrible eating habits and creative obsession shortly before his death, which went against medical recommendations to have control and rest. Her scolding made him even more stressed, and guilty, which made him eat even more.

The escape to Montecatini was arranged by Madame Raymonde at his request and contrary to Madame Dehaye’s recommendation. That’s why, at her funeral, she was so disconsolate.

None of this has been highlighted with so much spotlight in The New Look, only in the final part of episode 7, when Madame Raymonde takes matters into her own hands. Without her, Fashion would not have been the same.

Pesquisar

Pesquisar