Fashion’s Boxset Era: The Most Stylish Shows To Watch This Year
We are, it’s often said, living in a golden age of television. But with our appetite for boxsets seemingly never sated, the quest for new material has ramped up, as producers search for new stories to tell. The latest in the spotlight? Fashion TV shows.
This year, there have already been two huge new releases devoted to fashion titans. Cristóbal Balenciaga, the founder of the designer brand and man responsible for an influential sculptural aesthetic from the ’50s onwards, was the subject of an eponymous series on Disney+ in January. His contemporary, Christian Dior, is in focus in February, with The New Look on Apple TV+ portraying the creation of the designer’s seismic first haute couture collection in 1947.
There’s also Feud: Capote Vs The Swans, a much-anticipated fashion-adjacent series looking at Truman Capote and his friendship circle of glamorous socialites in ’50s New York, which premiered in the US in January and will be released later this year. A Disney+ series on Karl Lagerfeld is also in the works (working title Kaiser Karl), set for release in 2024.
Films are also looking to fashion. A long-delayed biopic of Alexander McQueen is now finally in the works, with potentially Paul Mescal or Jack O’Connell playing the designer. And the rise and fall – and rise again – of John Galliano is the subject of Kevin MacDonald documentary High & Low, to be released on 8 March.
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Fashion drama has been steadily growing in recent years. Halston, on Netflix, charted the rise of disco’s favourite designer (played by Ewan McGregor) in 2021, and The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story drew millions of viewers in 2017. This most recent spike is perhaps in line with wider pop culture trends. “It’s the natural evolution of the popularity of fun, frivolous streaming shows such as Bridgerton and Emily In Paris meeting the fascination with the luxe lifestyles of the uber-wealthy in shows like Succession,” says Ellen E Jones, TV critic and author of new book, Screen Deep: How Film And TV Can Solve Racism And Save The World.
She says the success of Ryan Murphy – the writer and director behind hits including The Assassination Of Gianni Versace and Feud: Capote Vs The Swans – is also an essential component: “He’s mainstreamed a specifically queer, specifically NYC aesthetic that has a big overlap with the world of high fashion,” adds Jones.
While Jones predicts TV’s love affair with fashion will continue for a while yet, there will eventually be overload. “When we hear Kim Kardashian is playing herself in The Rise Of The House Of Skims, we’ll know we’ve reached saturation point,” she jests. “Then again, I would absolutely watch that.”
5 Fashion Boxsets To Binge Now
- The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story – The tragic story of the founder’s death, with Penelope Cruz as Donatella Versace and a Shazam-worthy soundtrack.
- Cristóbal Balenciaga – A fashion history lesson detailing the original ‘designer’s designer’ with extra glamour.
- Halston – A brand so associated with disco that it’s referenced in a Sister Sledge lyric, this series charts the exploits of a 1970s style icon.
- The New Look – The story of Christian Dior with a superstar cast: Monsieur Dior is played by Ben Mendelsohn, while Juliette Binoche stars as Coco Chanel.
- The Super Models – Indulge in the stories from the golden age of modelling, courtesy of those mononymic legends Naomi, Christy, Cindy and Linda.
Lauren Cochrane is senior fashion writer at The Guardian and author of The Ten
