Matthieu Blazy’s first Chanel collection: A new era wrapped in tweed & irony

The grand rebirth under the planets

At long last, the moment the fashion world had been holding its breath for finally arrived. After ten months of whispers, expectations, and the occasional dramatic headline, Matthieu Blazy took over the Grand Palais for his first Chanel collection. The setting was nothing short of cosmic: floating planetary orbs glowing above the crowd, as if Coco herself were watching from a star. It was precisely eight o’clock or, more realistically, a fashionable few minutes past, when the lights dimmed and the audience, now completely still, faced the monumental question: what would Blazy do with Chanel?

This wasn’t just another debut. This was a historic leap. Only the fourth designer in 115 years to helm the house founded by the ever-rebellious Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, Blazy was stepping into an orbit dominated by Karl Lagerfeld’s legacy. A terrifying challenge, one might say, but the 41-year-old French-Belgian seemed almost unnervingly calm. And within minutes, it became clear: calm, for him, means confident precision, not timidity.

Revisiting the ghosts of Coco

Backstage, Blazy confessed that he dove into the archives from day one. “I felt very overwhelmed,” he said with a laugh, the kind that hides the enormity of the task. “It was too much beauty, almost, and I didn’t know where to take it from.” Indeed, the Chanel archives are less a wardrobe and more a museum of fashion revolutions. From the little black dress to the tweed suit and camellia, every piece has been overanalyzed, reissued, and meme-ified.

Blazy’s solution? Go back to Coco herself, and more precisely, to Boy Capel, the love who inspired her tomboyish tailoring. The opening looks made this clear: cropped pantsuits, their proportions skewed just enough to intrigue, were modeled after one of Blazy’s own jackets, chopped at the waist and modified with reimagined buttons.

Later, boxy button-down shirts made their entrance, co-designed with the legendary Place Vendôme shirtmaker Charvet. The twist? A hidden Chanel chain sewn into the hem, giving the shirts that perfect swing that the house’s jackets are known for. One could almost imagine Coco smirking in approval.

Tweed, but make it fly

At Bottega Veneta, Blazy was known as a material magician—the man who convinced the world that a tank top and jeans could, in fact, be made of leather. So expectations for fabric innovation were sky-high, and he did not disappoint. His tweed, often a heavy relic in less inspired hands, seemed to float. “I use viscose because it gives something quite dynamic to the fabric,” he explained, ever the technician. The result was a series of weightless suits that shimmered between tradition and movement, tweed as light as air yet unmistakably Chanel.

The cropped jacket, once the holy grail of the 2000s, suddenly looked fresh again. Perhaps it was the subtle defiance in the cut, perhaps the fact that Blazy refuses to design nostalgia. Knit V-necks layered over undershirts, wrap skirts hugging the hips, and cashmere sweater sets embroidered with discreet camellias, all spoke of ease rather than effort. It was Coco’s practicality reimagined for women who don’t have time to iron.

The poetry of underwear

Of course, no true Chanel collection would be complete without a wink to rebellion. For Blazy, that came in the form of visible ribbed cotton waistbands poking out above low-slung skirts and trousers. “The first-ever jersey Coco Chanel used for the marinière came from men’s underwear,” he noted, his eyes sparkling. “And my grandfather worked in a factory of men’s underwear.” Suddenly, the subversive detail felt almost sentimental.

It was a humorous, slightly naughty nod to Coco’s own rule-breaking spirit. If she could steal from men’s closets in the 1920s, surely Blazy could borrow from their underwear drawers in 2025. The effect was effortless, chicly disheveled, and unmistakably modern.

Accessories with a heartbeat

Then came the accessories because at Chanel, accessories are sacred. The classic 2.55 bag, that eternal emblem of Parisian elegance, was reborn with a new trick: hidden wires in the flaps. Why? “So you can manipulate it,” Blazy said. “I wanted it to look not old but well loved.” A poetic idea, transforming a pristine icon into something lived-in, human, maybe even flawed. In a world obsessed with perfection, that felt radical.

The shoes, too, were whispering rather than shouting. Cap-toe pumps, slightly reworked, peeked out from beneath ball skirts paired with satin T-shirts. Yes, satin T-shirts. Because why should red-carpet dressing be predictable? Especially when Nicole Kidman and Ayo Edebiri are already seated in the front row, the paparazzi fed for weeks.

The genius of restraint

Perhaps the greatest strength of Blazy’s debut was his refusal to overstate. Everything felt considered, but not cautious. The feathers, the satin, the tweed, each carried a sense of intimacy, not spectacle. “The good thing with the codes of Chanel,” Blazy concluded, “is that you can reduce them and they still look like Chanel.” It’s true. Even stripped to the bone, a Chanel look still whispers its lineage.

In a season dominated by attempts to shock, Blazy’s Chanel whispered instead of shouted. Yet every whisper carried authority.

The final bow

As the last model disappeared backstage, the planets above the Grand Palais seemed to hum in quiet approval. The applause was loud, the relief even louder. Blazy didn’t just survive his first Chanel show: he reinvented it.

There were no grand proclamations, no “new era” press releases. Just a collection that felt like Chanel through a new lens: lighter, freer, with a hint of mischievous rebellion. The kind of collection Coco herself might have worn, had she lived in 2025 and had Wi-Fi.

And as for the rest of us, we’ll just have to wait patiently, impatiently for the next orbit of Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel. Because if this is only the beginning, the cosmos of couture just got a whole lot more interesting.

ALLT THE LOOKS:

DETAILS:

VIDEO OF THE SHOW: