Become a Vogue Business Member to receive unlimited access to Member-only reporting and insights, our Beauty and TikTok Trend Trackers, Member-only newsletters and exclusive event invitations.
The last designer debut of this all-important fashion month, and arguably the most anticipated one, Matthieu Blazy’s first Chanel show exceeded expectations. Held in the historic Grand Palais against the backdrop of a solar system set, it brought back the magic reminiscent of Karl Lagerfeld’s sets and spectacles and left guests in high spirits. Blazy’s collection also marked a true departure from the Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard era; there was a boyish vibe in the trouser-focused opening looks and shirts, which were made with Charvet, the French shirtmaker.
“I found out that Gabrielle Chanel was a customer of Charvet, and that her boyfriend was as well. And then I thought it was very interesting, the fact that she constantly borrowed his clothes, so she became the kind of equal of his, but at the same time, and this is where the paradox Chanel stands, she was extremely seductive,” Blazy said to a handful of editors after the show.
The collection was respectful of the house s heritage, while twisting its codes. Blazy made tweed light and fluid and delivered his take on the camellia, making it abstract, pointed and dynamic. There was a focus on craftsmanship, particularly in the closing look, which featured a voluminous evening skirt.
The front row also felt modern: it was a mix of longtime Chanel ambassadors, including Margot Robbie, Penélope Cruz, Charlotte Casiraghi, Vanessa Paradis and singer Angèle, as well as new Chanel ambassadors like Ayo Edebiri and Nicole Kidman, for whom it was a homecoming of sorts. Kidman starred in the Chanel No. 5 fragrance campaign in 2004, directed by Baz Luhrmann, and most recently was Demna’s Balenciaga ambassador.
It was a high-stakes show for the house and for Matthieu Blazy, its new artistic director of the house’s fashion activities, responsible for all haute couture, ready-to-wear and accessories collections for several reasons. Not least because he earned the most coveted in fashion, becoming the house’s fourth artistic director after Gabrielle Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard.
.jpg)
Chanel didn’t make a risky choice by appointing Blazy: he has an impeccable track record. The Paris-born, 41-year-old designer graduated from Brussels’s La Cambre in 2007 and has held designer stints at Raf Simons, Maison Margiela, Céline, under Phoebe Philo, and Calvin Klein (reunited with Raf Simons). In 2020, he became Daniel Lee’s right hand at Bottega Veneta as design director. After Lee’s sudden departure, he was appointed creative director in 2021, turning Bottega Veneta into one of Milan’s most exciting brands, with a strong focus on craftsmanship.
Blazy is the designer who has had the most time to prepare among the flurry of designers presenting their debut collections this season (his appointment was announced in December 2024). What raised already high expectations even higher is the fact that Chanel is not immune to the wider industry slowdown. The company’s revenues were $18.7 billion in 2024, down from 4.3 per cent year-on-year. “Matthieu is one of the most talented and gifted designers of his generation; his vision and understanding of Chanel codes convinced us that he was someone who was the best suited for the job,” Chanel global CEO Leena Nair told Vogue Business in May.
“Matthieu has an exceptional sense of product and a deep love of craftsmanship and materials that resonates with the values of the house and will help lead Chanel into a new dimension,” Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion and president of Chanel SAS, told Vogue Business following the show.
Here’s what other attendees had to say about the show:
Eva Chen, VP of fashion at Meta
The set was as expansive as Matthieu Blazy’s vision: a galaxy beyond the expectations for Chanel. Like unravelling a sweater and reknitting it into a familiar but new form, I thought it was a fantastic debut that riffed on the codes of Chanel while being original to Matthieu Blazy.
.jpg)
Chloe Malle, head of editorial content, Vogue US
I was blown away by this. Like a rocket into outer space. The planetary set felt very appropriate because it did feel like going into a new galaxy. It felt like the Karl chapter of Chanel closed in a really beautiful way. Matthieu entered this with such assurance and confidence that it felt very much like his own vision, while also paying such attention and respect to the history of the house and the craft of the house.
He seems to treat the resources and atelier of the house with such excitement, like a kid in a candy shop, but also with such unmatched creativity. The way that he used tiny seed beads to create tweed suits that were just fringed at the bottom, almost like they had been shipwrecked. The way that he collaborated with Charvet because Coco Chanel wore Charvet shirts, and so he cut those shirts to be cropped at the belly button and weighted down with a woven tweed chain link.
I thought that it felt passionate, energetic and confident, and I loved the evening part. Some of the more explosive dresses, where camellias had sort of morphed into celestial creatures, reminded me of something you would find on a planet in The Little Prince. And I think that women will be really excited to wear these clothes.
Also, the accessories were fantastic. I loved the way that he reshaped the classic bag silhouettes by making them softer and slouchier. And he really turned the smaller bags into Richard Chamberlain-like sculptures with wire ribbing. It felt like something that people can make their own. It felt very exciting and almost emotional to have this awe-inducing experience.
.jpg)
Inès de la Fressange, Roger Vivier ambassador and longtime model at Chanel
It’s going to be good for business; there are lots of things that will do well in the boutiques, like that beige trench coat with a black trim that reminds me of the Chanel ballet flats. I like the attitude, reminiscent of Gabrielle Chanel’s own style. I liked the multitude of ideas and the boldness to break away from the codes. We always expect a tweed jacket. It’s brave to show that Chanel isn’t just about tweed. There’s this very beautiful black suit. They’re going to sell billions of them.
Rickie de Sole, VP fashion director at Nordstrom
An emotional and important end to this fashion week. I loved the movement in the deconstructed fringe, as well as the covetable accessories and jewels. I was seated with longtime clients who jumped to their feet for a standing ovation.
Yumi Shin, chief merchandising officer at Bergdorf Goodman
Matthieu’s debut at Chanel marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter. His collection honours the codes of the brand while exploring new materials, embracing relaxed proportions and reimagining fabrications with a sense of depth that feels more dimensional than decorative. Matthieu’s debut embodies confidence and innovation.
Alix Morabito, global buying director, Galeries Lafayette
How moving to see Matthieu’s humble yet masterful talent within this great house. He brought back to life Gabrielle Chanel as she was in her early couture days of the 1920s and 1930s, with that confident look and such a beautifully controlled sense of ease. He revisited the house’s codes without them ever overpowering the whole. Matthieu reinvents the Chanel allure without making it a revolution. It is the most perfect evolution.
Brigitte Chartrand, chief buying and merchandising officer, Net-a-Porter
Matthieu Blazy’s debut felt both respectful of Chanel’s traditions, whilst also signalling a fresh direction for the house. I absolutely love the sweater in look 44; meanwhile, look two was effortlessly cool and elegant.
Olivia Singer, writer, editor and creative consultant
I thought it was absolutely fantastic: fresh and desirable, the codes of Chanel made modern and light. The movement of everything was remarkable. The shoes were so sexy, the bags were major and the atmosphere in the room was unreal. To see the new community all front row — Ayo Edebiri, Imane Khelif, [singer] Arca, Pedro Pascal, Michaela Coel — felt so Matthieu: so expansive and authentic to who he is, and what he is bringing to the house.
Marie Ottavi, journalist at Libération and author of Karl, a fashion history
What’s beautiful is that we witnessed, live, a major turning point for the brand: Blazy does more than shake up Chanel — he propels it into the future by giving it new codes. He combines the rather flat, two-dimensional look of classic Chanel with the broader volume of the jackets. The masculine feel of the suits is new compared to the more boyish style Chanel had invented. And this way of deconstructing tweed, of lightening it — it’s anything but sentimental; it’s modern. Matthieu Blazy aligned the planets — the set was poetic and evocative — even going so far as to stage his first show on the night of a full moon. The moon we were able to admire when leaving the Grand Palais, right in front of the entrance.
Sophie Fontanel, journalist and author
Matthieu Blazy succeeded, and even though I knew he had both the talent and originality to do it, it’s moving to see how completely he masters the whole Chanel history, while also venturing into somewhat crazy ideas.
Tim Lim, group fashion director, Meta Media Holdings
It’s not only a new era — it’s a paradigm shift. We have to rethink everything we took for granted at Chanel. Matthieu spoke a lot about love and the universe — so magically recreated inside the Grand Palais for the show — and you can feel that his Chanel women possess interior worlds just as expansive. Even if that means being beautifully messy at times: a jacket chopped off at the waist, a skirt worn askew, a frayed tweed hem, the scarecrow dress, those distressed, distorted quilted bags…so cool, and it’s just the beginning.
Emilie Hammen, director at Palais Galliera, Paris’s fashion museum
Gabrielle Chanel had an original understanding of materials — knitwear for daywear, all-over sequins in lieu of decorative trims on eveningwear. In a way, more than inventing new shapes, she reimagined their materiality, and through it the relation between body and dress. Blazy’s first collection for the century-old maison highlights this particular approach to design: the first hints of his creative vision for the brand connect with this essentially modernist approach.
Stefano Tonchi, editorial director of Harper’s Bazaar Italia
The craftsmanship was exceptional; the lightness of the clothes was evident, and the modernity of the proportions was daring yet wearable. He is a designer, an architect, not necessarily a traditional fashion designer in love with trends, but still experimenting with fabric, embroidery and technique. And not a creative director in the 2000s way of thinking: no tricks, no messages, no casting or set twist, no movies and celebrities. Do I dare to say classic modernity? And no irony, no cynicism, lots of love for the art of fashion.
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
‘A dose of poison against nostalgia’: First reactions to Duran Lantink’s Jean Paul Gaultier
‘There was so much love in that room’: First reactions to Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Balenciaga
‘Fashion will survive’: First reactions to Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez’s Loewe debut
