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La Maison Season 1 premiered with a double-header on Apple TV+ on Friday, September 20, 2024. The back-to-back debut of the new French soap brings a mix and match of glamour, high drama, and familiar power struggles surrounding a French haute couture house and its rivals.
Per the official logline, the series will follow the fall of an iconic family-run fashion house after its head, Vincent Ledu (played by Lambert Wilson), racially charged rant went viral. Drama is set to unravel as the haute-couture dynasty gets a new leader, and the rest of the Ledu clan and their rivals devour themselves in a tense fashion industry.
In the two-episode premiere of La Maison Season 1, the French fashion drama quickly introduces Paloma Castel (played by Zita Hanrot), who will be Maison LEDU's saving grace and Vincent's replacement. However, the first two episodes reveal her relationship with Vincent and the Maison outside of becoming its new artistic director, as Paloma is also Vincent's daughter.
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Disclaimer: This article contains significant spoilers for La Maison Season 1. Reader's discretion is advised.
What is Paloma's connection to Maison LEDU in La Maison Season 1?
La Maison Season 1 introduces Paloma Castel as a young fashion designer who advocates for sustainability and innovation. She unapologetically calls out major fashion houses like Maison LEDU and its rival, Rovel, and has a ready-to-wear brand called Doppel. However, as the French drama continues, Paloma's identity and ties with Vincent and the Maison are revealed gradually.
Paloma and her fashion stylist friend, Ye-Ji, visit the Hotel de Beauvais, aka the headquarters of Maison LEDU, hoping to see where her father once worked. However, the guard turns them away before Paloma sees men leaving the building with garbage bags full of LEDU gear. She and Ye-Ji follow the guys into a massive warehouse where they destroy and discard a bunch of unsold goods from the company so nobody else can use them.
Seeing all the LEDU and Rovel gear free for their taking, Paloma and Ye-Ji grab a bunch of fabrics and race out together before the guards catch them. With those items on hand, Paloma and her team turn the discarded rags into riches. She displays those creations in her fashion show set in a parking garage.
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However, at the end of La Maison Season 1 Episode 1, Vincent's brother Victor (played by Pierre Deladonchamps), who works for Rovel, calls the fraud squad who confiscated Paloma's merchandise for allegedly counterfeiting. Meanwhile, in the final scene of episode 1, Madame Diane Rovel is in her high-rise office watching footage of Vincent getting mocked by protesters. What she says next teases Paloma's identity and ties with Vincent and the Ledu clan. She says:
"Now that I've killed the father, I want the daughter. Bring me Paloma Castel."
The TV show's episode 2 also confirms that Paloma is Vincent's daughter and has a likely claim to the family legacy that is Maison LEDU. In a conversation between Paloma and Ye-Ji over Champagne, she jokingly contemplates what she would tell Vincent if they met. She tells Ye-Ji:
"How about, 'Hi, I'm your dead lover's kid. Can you please tell me about my dad?'"
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How did Maison LEDU fall from grace?
The once legendary Maison LEDU fashion couture house hangs by a thread even before episode 1 ends. At the beginning of the first episode, cracks that will lead to the Maison's eventual downfall start showing. The head of the fashion house, Vincent Ledu, is a traditional designer set in his ways. He's a brilliant designer, but his entitlement often rears its ugly head.
He botched the lucrative deal of creating a wedding dress for a Korean woman, Sun-hi, because he disapproves of her wanting more tule and real gems in her gown. The same entitlement brings the family business to the brink of ruin.
After receiving news that the Sun-hi deal has gone up in flames, Vincent is livid, and a waitress, Stella, happens to videotape his racist tirade. While Vincent's nephew, Robinson, catches the waitress and deletes the tape, but not before sending the footage to his phone, the video still goes public.
Vincent faces backlash, and being defiant in asking the public for forgiveness doesn't help. He gets branded as racist, people online start destroying their LEDU merchandise, and their loyal customers begin to distance themselves.
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La Maison Season 1 Episode 2 reveals that the video was taken from Robinson's phone without him knowing, and when it reached Diane's hands, she leaked the video. With Vincent's name tarnished after the 17-second video went viral, Perle Foster (played by Amira Casar) tells him that the business will soon face bankruptcy if he doesn't step down as the head of Maison LEDU.
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Will Paloma replace Vincent in Maison LEDU?
In the final scene of La Maison Season 1 Episode 2, Paloma tells Vincent as he walks away that she's the new AD and that "I don't want to see you in my Maison anymore."
Paloma's last words set up the future of Maison LEDU in the following episodes—with Paloma as the new artistic director while Vincent steps away from the Maison. Despite their estranged and tense relationship, their connection as father and daughter wouldn't be their last interaction.
While Paloma has a job offer from Victor to work with Rovel, Perle also gives her a chance to replace Vincent as the artistic director for Maison LEDU. Ultimately, she picks the Maison because of its ties to her late father, Gino, who previously worked in the fashion house.
Paloma taking over the Maison is in line with La Maison Season 1's official logline, which teases Perle and Paloma's collaboration to reinvent the fashion house and claim their rightful places in the fashion world and the Ledu clan.
Catch the latest episodes of La Maison Season 1, now streaming on Apple TV+.
