Series about the fashion industry do elicit a big “who cares” from us, mainly because the stakes aren’t all that high on first glance. But when you take a closer look, the stakes are actually bigger than we realized; with millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs on the line, the success of a fashion house is a big deal, and the personalities who lead these houses certainly can generate drama. That’s what we took from watching the first episode of a new French series on Apple TV+.
Opening Shot: A plate is loaded onto a loom that makes lace.
The Gist: The lace, one of the signature elements of designs by the fashion house Ledu, is added to a wedding dress that has the words “Life Is A Dance” pinned on it. Mercurial designer Vincent Ledu (Lambert Wilson), the CEO of the company, goes with his former muse and current right-hand person, Perle Foster (Amira Casar) to a fitting for the dress.
The client is a young Korean woman with lots of money and very particular tastes, which irritates Victor. Despite over a dozen prototypes, the woman still isn’t satisfied; Perle tries to calm Victor down by reminding him that this is a mid-seven-figure order. But she’s alarmed when Vincent’s brother Victor (Pierre Deladonchamps), representing rival fashion house Rovel, comes sweeping into the suite with his company’s designs.
The falling out between Vincent and Victor has been going on for years. However, despite the fact that Victor’s wife Marie (Anne Consigny) is the daughter of Rovel CEO Diane Rovel (Carole Bouquet), Victor has never relinquished his shares in his family’s company. Oh, and he and Perle have been conducting an affair, as well.
Vincent is at a reception for an honor he’s received from the French government when he hears that the Korean bride cancelled the order in favor of Rovel’s designs. He goes out on a balcony and rants to Perle, using some very unflattering terms to describe Koreans. A waitress records the rant for her own amusement, but when Vincent’s nephew Robinson (Antoine Reinartz) overhears the video, he demands the phone from the waitress. He sends it to himself then deletes it from her phone (but doesn’t look in the “Deleted” folder to get rid of it permanently… rookie mistake).
The video ends up in the inbox of Diane Rovel, who eagerly sends it on to a tabloid website; inevitably, the video immediately goes viral. At first, Vincent dismisses it as something that will blow over, but under pressure from Perle and the siblings that he still talks to, and with his Fashion Week show in jeopardy, he tries to record an apology video.
In the meantime, Victor, sensing his mother-in-law wants to destroy Ledu once and for all, agrees to divest his shares in exchange for taking over the company.
Also in the meantime, two young designers, Paloma Castel (Zita Hanrot) and Ye-Ji Kang (Park Ji-min) steal prototypes from Ledu and Rovel that were set to be destroyed, repurposing them for their own designs. It’s a statement about the wastefulness of the fashion industry, and their Fashion Week show is well-received by both Victor and Perle. But Paloma has another axe to grind, as she’s the daughter Vincent doesn’t seem to either know or acknowledge.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Succession meets Halston and The New Look.
Our Take: On first glance, La Maison feels like it’s going to be a typical show about the fashion industry. Vincent Ledu is pretty stereotypical of a character in his position: Arrogant but never 100% sure of himself, demanding but loyal, he thinks he’s a far better person than he projects. So, even though his rant was dripping with racist remarks about Koreans, he doesn’t feel he’s racist.
But the more intriguing aspect of the show isn’t Vincent, and it’s not even the rivalry between Vincent and Victor, though we imagine that will be a big part of the series. No, the most intriguing aspect is the prospect of Perle taking over Ledu, which is in tatters after a disastrous Fashion Week show, and making it in her own image, with the help of Paloma.
Because Paloma has history with the Ledu family, but is trying to make a change in the notoriously environmentally-unfriendly fashion industry, having her working with Perle from the inside of the fictional fashion giant holds a lot of possibilities. Perle is also getting her time to shape a brand after being someone’s muse for decades, which is why she doesn’t walk for Vincent after he offers her the chance to take over. So seeing Perle change the paradigm will be the part of the series we’ll be most eager to see.
Sex and Skin: Just implied sex, and no nudity.
Parting Shot: After watching Ledu’s Fashion Week disaster, Diane Rovel says, “I destroyed the father; now I want the mother.”
Sleeper Star: Antoine Reinartz’s character Robinson Ledu seems to be loyal only to himself, which should make for some interesting situations.
Most Pilot-y Line: A new driver for the Rovel family is told to only drive Diane Rovel past ads for her company and not past ads for Ledu. When traffic sends him on an alternate route, Diane gives him the evil eye.
Our Call: STREAM IT. La Maison works because it isn’t about what you might think it’s going to be about. Instead of it being about a stereotypical tyrant of a designer, it’ll be interesting to see two unexpected characters take over a fashion house and bring it into the 2020s.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.