“La Maison” is a show whose executive producer Alex Berger says he wants to portray “fantastical environments” but people don’t understand how they work. Specifically through his new Apple TV+ series, he wants to show that, despite all its glamour, the fashion industry works like any other: it’s not the hemlines but the bottom line that drives us from one season to the next.
It’s a bit like Inheritance. In the pilot of LaMaison, the important plots and subplots are just that: plots. When one brother plots to overthrow the other in the family fashion company, a ruthless self-made fashion executive plots to take over the long-established family business. Does the show have the wonderful, smart, engaging dialogue that was present in Inheritance? Absolutely not — but it does showcase the fragile world of the super-rich through a well-chosen cast. (It’s rare to see Alaïa, Haider Ackermann and a retro Claude Montana on screen so brilliantly.) “La Maison” is dramatic, even soapy, but in the frothy world of performances in a movie like “Amy,” it could be thought of as an Aesop opera. What’s more: It gets a lot of things right.
Here’s our analysis of what’s true and what’s not true about Apple TV+’s LaMaison.
Do fashion brands destroy unsold clothes? Fact.
In the first episode, we see Paloma Castell (Zita Hanrot) and Ye-ji (Park Jimin), partners at Berlin-based inclusive brand Doppel, raid a clothing dismantling and incineration facility, where they find two discarded items, searching for clothes.
In fact, luxury and fast-fashion brands alike have participated in the controversial and extremely wasteful practice of burning unsold goods – and yes, this includes luxury handbags and shoes. The rationale for luxury brands is that it’s better to destroy unsold items rather than make them look cheaper by marking them up or sending them to specialty stores. For fast-fashion chains, on the other hand, there are tax benefits in some cases from burning excess merchandise rather than storing it.
The European Environmental Agency reports that “it is estimated that between 4 and 9 percent of all textiles available on the European market are destroyed before they can be used, resulting in an annual loss of between 264,000 and 594,000 tons of textiles.”
Does the brand use scrap fabric from other brands? Fact.
Early in the morning we saw a double fashion show at La Maison, showcasing costumes made from old Ledu & Rovel pieces recycled from the aforementioned incineration plant.
In real life, many designers are working with deadstock (or unsold yardage) fabric. Doppel points to real-life brands such as New York’s Collina Strada, Paris’ Marine Serre, and London’s Chopova Lowena as the first brands to make extensive use of deadstock materials. Other brands make clothes from fabrics that consciously identify their origins: Liliw’s jackets, for example, are made from Hermès silk and terry cloth.
Do fashion CEOs really avoid advertising from their competitors? It’s fiction (probably).
We first meet Diane Rowell (Carole Buge) while on her way to a conference. Mrs Rowell was the (extremely wealthy) head of a fashion conglomerate such as LVMH, and Mrs Rowell was driven around Paris by a chauffeur, with the explicit instruction that she could only continue to work on Rowell’s advertising. No advertising hoardings for their competitor Ledu were to be visible. (To really put it into perspective, if Rowell is LVMH-esque, then Ledu could be compared to Chanel or Hermès – neither out of the hustle and bustle of luxury fashion conglomerates. So Ledu is Mrs Rowell. Moby Dick?)
Although we cannot say for sure whether fashion executives are protected from competitors’ advertisements by their drivers, we can say that traveling in the city seems extremely inefficient and long for people. What is time apart from money?
Will the designers be fired and asked to resign? Truth.
This seems obvious. After it went viral on the internet, people demanded that he resign as creative director of LeDue. It’s a familiar story reminiscent of John Galliano’s fall from grace and subsequent exit from Christian Dior in 2011. In fact, La Maison even referenced this real-life incident: a viewer of LeDue’s clip commented: “LeDue just copied Galliano.”
Will designers hold retrospective fashion shows? Fact.
Even after Vincent Ledoux’s decision was rejected by the court of public opinion, he continued to stage the world’s most ill-timed retrospective fashion show. In an interview with Askum, La Maison costume designer Karin Sarfati explained how she staged a full fashion show for the company Ledu using lace from renowned lace makers such as Sophie Hallet, Solstice and Hurel. “It was important to put together clothes that could be from different decades,” Sarfati said of the final collection.
Designers are known for their retrospective shows, where they relaunch their old clothes to mark their anniversaries or celebrate their tenure. Look for fashion designer Giambattista Valli’s retrospective during Fashion Week in July 2022, or the Kim x Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2023 collection based on D&G’s clothing designs from 1987 to 2007.
Does a designer feel pressured to showcase his collections after being appointed a creative director? This is a myth.
In the third episode of La Maison, Paloma Castell replaces Vincent Ledu and launches her first series a few days later. Haven’t we had a Ledu retrospective yet? Why is another Fashion Week coming up again? While theoretically real-life French fashion and ready-to-wear brands like Ledu show more often than strictly ready-to-wear brands, the race to launch Castell’s first collection is moving pretty fast. Assuming the Ledu retrospective takes place during Fashion Week in July, Ledu won’t be showing another collection during Paris Fashion Week until October. That’s almost three months!
Do designers like Vincent Ledue and Pearl Foster have intrinsic motivation? Fact.
Vincent Ledoux didn’t have to close his eyes to imagine the ideal Ledoux woman he wanted in the studio with him. Although Pearl Foster (played brilliantly by Amira Casar) strives for the title of art director she deserves, at this point she is merely an inspiration – inspiring Vincent with her “unimaginative” and eccentric ways to keep the designer on track. Domestic inspiration has long been a resource for some of history’s greatest design talents. Yves Saint Laurent owns Lulu de la Falaise. Azzedine Alaa owns Farida Khelfa. Holsten owns Elsa Peretti. Karl Lagerfeld owns Amanda Harlech. These people may not be able to design themselves, but what they lack in technical skill they make up for in their vision.
