The New Look doesn’t get off to the strongest start. Fortunately, the first impression is deceptive, but nonetheless, there is more of a barrier to entry than you’d hope. We’re greeted early on by a lot of creative choices that feel either odd or unnecessary: the actors – most of them at least – speaking English with hon hee hon French accents is distracting in this post-Death of Stalin world; the show begins in earnest with a Walk Hard-esque “Christian Dior needs to think about his whole life before he designs” framing device which could have easily have been cut; and having Maisie Williams play Ben Mendelsohn’s sister when she’s 30 years younger than him and looks every day of it is a curious decision, albeit one that you will understand the reasoning behind quite quickly.

However, once you get past those initial hurdles, The New Look reveals itself as a sumptuously produced, strikingly moving and beautifully acted costume drama that tells a really absorbing story of a piece of history many may know little about. It chronicles the lives of Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) and Coco Chanel (Juliette Binoche) during and after the Second World War, from the German occupation of Paris to Dior’s emergence as a legendary fashion designer. Unexpectedly and pleasantly, the politics of the fashion world that dominate the season’s back half are, if anything, more involving than the peril and cloak-and-dagger business of the front.

In many ways it feels like a gratifyingly old-fashioned star vehicle for Mendelsohn and Binoche. They aren’t the only famous couturiers to appear, but they’re firmly the focus, with their parallel storylines unfolding and indirectly commenting on one another over the course of the season. It’s a real shame that the only scene they actually share is a fleeting glance in the first episode, because they’re both at the top of their game.

Mendelsohn gets more to do the further through the show we get, as more layers of his character are revealed. He begins as an almost saintly figure, devoted to his sister, endlessly worried about her and constantly humble, but his frustrations, ion for his work and unwillingness to compromise come out much more once the Nazis have left Paris. Mendelsohn paints a picture of a complex and engaging person, none of whose opposing parts feel contradictory to one another, and we’re left in no doubt why his friends are so devoted to him. There’s a lovely, almost wordless moment when Dior and Cristobal Balenciaga (Nuno Lopes) toast the imminent liberation of Paris together, a quiet and subtle scene which becomes profoundly touching thanks to Mendelsohn’s performance.

Binoche comes close to stealing the show, though. For obvious reasons, of all the cast she acquits herself best with the accent issue, and she’s simultaneously magnetic and repellent as Chanel. She’s a survivor and willing to do whatever it takes to survive, which involves collaborating with the Nazis and then trying desperately to cover her tracks afterwards. She’s capricious, cruel and unfathomably arrogant, but Binoche never loses sight of the lost little girl who grew up in a convent orphanage: we might think Chanel despicable, but Binoche ensures we still keep our sympathy for her.

It’s in the little moments like the one between Dior and Balenciaga that The New Look really shines, when it just lets the actors do their thing with a minimum of fuss, but it wouldn’t work as well as it does if this show didn’t look as great as it did. The actors are working on stunning period sets and locations, in gorgeously soft, diffuse lighting and muted colours that evoke this period of history superbly, and obviously while wearing the most fabulous costumes. And that really is The New Look in a nutshell: it doesn’t draw attention to itself with epic scale or dazzling effects, and it’s never in your face.

Dior says that he wants his couture house to be simple, intimate and elegant, not flashy or ostentatious, and this show channels that same spirit. The most intimate moments, quiet acts of kindness between characters who care about one another, are what stay with you most afterwards, but they’re accentuated to no end by being part of such a generous package. Stick with it and you’re in for something quite special.