Words: Steven MacKenzie
John Malkovich is being John Malkovich. Speaking to The Big Issue from an immaculate suite, radiant in a white shirt, white V-neck and white jacket, he answers questions in a meandering drawl, simultaneously sounding bemused and confessional, playful and profound, in total control yet completely unpredictable. A prolific star of film and TV, Malkovich, 70, was born in Illinois and studied acting at Manhattan’s William Esper Studio.
Now, he unpacks his French accent again for the latest prestige drama from Apple TV+. The New Look sketches the rivalry between Coco Chanel [Juliette Binoche] and Christian Dior [Ben Mendelsohn] against the suffocating and brutal occupation of Paris in the Second World War.
Malkovich plays Lucien Lelong, leader of the most famous fashion house of the time who served as mentor not only to Dior but names like Pierre Balmain and Hubert de Givenchy. Dior said of Lelong: “It was from Lucien Lelong that I learned fabrics have personality, a behaviour as varied as that of a temperamental woman.”
Does Malkovich find that to be true, at least the part about fabrics having personality? “Yeah, they do.”
I suddenly feel conspicuously blandly dressed on the video call.
“Denim too,” Malkovich says. “I did a denim collection years ago, Japanese denim [as well as being an actor and director, Malkovich established his own fashion line, Mrs Mudd, in 2002]. Fabrics do have personalities. The way they fall, the way they drape, how loose, how tight, if they breathe, how they breathe.”
Is it a fabric that has personality or does it emphasise or magnify an aspect of the wearer’s personality?
“It does that as well. I stopped doing fashion about six, seven years ago, but the great fabric designers, of which there are still some, I always so look forward to getting to see their collections. Marvelling at how beautiful the fabric itself is and dreaming of everything one could do with it.”
The New Look grandly declares from the outset that Christian Dior became an “icon of hope” after the war and inspired a revolution. Does he believe creative industries can inspire revolution?
“I couldn’t answer because it depends on what sort of revolution.”
It need not be a massive global political revolution. A social revolution or personal revolution can be just as significant, right? “Personal revolution is pretty important. And social revolution can be im
