Central to the plot is the idea of the couture being a dream factory, which itself is predicated on the belief that beauty has transformative powers — as does fashion. The film shows us over and over that how people appear and who they really are can be polar opposites, suggesting that fashion can be a deceptive cover, even as it has the ability to amplify and reveal unexpected aspects of one’s character (as it does with Mrs. Harris). The chic and commanding Madame Colbert, for example, lives in a rundown apartment where she cares for her ill husband; and Dior’s star mannequin Natasha (Alba Baptista), looks like a fairy-tale princess, and feels trapped in fashion’s ivory tower. She would rather be reading Sartre, preferably in a black turtleneck.
Class is an essential part of this tale as well. Mrs. Harris doesn’t come in the polished package that most clients do, and is looked down on. Nevertheless she perseveres and wins the day with her pure and genuine joy for the craft (and her heart made of gold). In some ways Mrs.Harris’s story is of the underdog making good, on foreign turf, no less. The film also questions value and how it is perceived, by suggesting that having and fulfilling a dream is as or more valuable than possessing the object of desire. (As happiness theories suggest, experiences have been found to be more rewarding than accumulation in the long run.)
Fashion-wise, viewers are in for a treat, as the film features a defile celebrating Christian Dior’s tenth year in business (1957). M. Dior, played by Philippe Bertin, makes a brief, but ahistorical appearance in the film, to approve plans for licensing and subsidiary products. (The movie insinuates that licensing was a last-minute ploy to save the company from going under (as if!), when in fact, Dior was active in building his business via these channels from the beginning, and they helped make the business so successful that it was compared to that of General Motors, according to writer Tomoko Okawa.) The recreation of the Dior salon was the responsibility of production designer Luciana Arrighi, whose experience modeling for Yves Saint Laurent must have come in handy.
It’s not a spoiler to say that the famous New Look bar suit of 1947 has a star turn, as do many sumptuous evening looks. The film’s costume designer is the Oscar-winning Jenny Beavan, who is responsible for the look of films including A Room With a View and more recently Cruella. Beavan was able to visit Dior’s archives in Paris, and the house, which cooperated on the film, even lent some replicas they had. Unfortunately, the replicas happened to be in shades of black and white. “I needed to bring in color,” said Beavan on a call. “When you think about it, it’s all about what Mrs. Harris is going to fall in love with, so you need color and just some general sort of joyous dresses for her to go, ‘Ooh, that’s the one I want!’”
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