Chanel: Ready-To-Wear SS27

His third ready-to-wear show was another blockbuster outing, which saw him muse on the multiple selves a woman inhabits through the course of her life. He used as his template Gabrielle Chanel, drawing sartorial inspiration from her personal story arc, from convent girl to Edwardian milliner, entrepreneur and twentieth-century tastemaker extraordinaire.

The first model to step onto the set, which featured a flock of 95 birds soaring above, carried Gabrielle’s personal 2.55 bag, taken from the Chanel archive.

Blazy’s designs paid homage to Coco’s biography, taking in key moments in her personal fashion evolution – an ingenious idea which allowed him to introduce new ways of looking at the house codes. So the Chanel jacket had corset detailing or hook-and-eye fastenings, referencing the Victorian and Edwardian eras into which Coco was born and grew up. Some were cinched at the back with milliner’s ribbons (Chanel was a hat maker before she became a fashion designer) to create an Edwardian frill, but nothing was tight or buttoned up.

Chanel, of course, was famous for freeing women from corsets and restrictive clothing in the 1920s with her jersey suits, and one of the major lessons Blazy has absorbed from his three-season study of Coco is that clothes should allow freedom of movement. It’s what made her look so modern and appealing to women then and now. So Blazy’s lean, low-waisted pencil skirts had slits at the front and the back, giving ease of movement without compromising silhouette.

Reflecting Chanel’s habit of dressing in her lovers’ clothes, there were plenty of trouser looks, including a white, fully beaded corset jacket worn with slouchy black trousers, and a tailcoat with playing-card buttons paired with a cotton dress shirt by Charvet, the historic shirting house recently acquired by Chanel. A photograph of Coco wearing a flamenco dress inspired a pair of frill-neck suits in exuberant patterned jacquard, worn with clashing patterned boots.

From cropped, boxy jackets to low-slung pencil skirts belted over the hips, sheer body-con knit suits or drop-waist cocktail dresses embroidered with flowers, Blazy’s silhouettes are precise but uncomplicated; easy to read, easy to understand. The sophistication comes in the finesse of the cut, as well as the awe-inspiring fabric and detailing lavished on each look, which makes these some of the most highly crafted clothes in ready-to-wear.

Chanel’s fabric development department consistently challenges the realms of possibility, creating extraordinary bespoke tweeds, including one used for suits that has the stretchy qualities of sportswear. Add to that the couture-level detailing, from a delicate daisy embroidery flowering over a fine mesh suit to hems dripping in fine gold chains, open-weave knits made entirely from beads and cocktail dresses made from silk ribbon, applied to a mesh grid that offered intense texture and ultimate lightness.

Blazy’s expansive approach was a great way to show the breadth of his vision for Chanel, and his desire to dress many different types of women at every stage of their lives, whatever the mood or occasion. Blazy spoke of wanting to appeal to “not just one woman, but the many women that could enter or belong to the world of Chanel.”

That could be measured by the many Chanel-wearing women spotted in the streets of Paris over fashion week (once again, the boutiques were picked to the bone this fashion week). At the show, excited clients of all ages, sizes and ethnicities, many wearing matching jackets from Blazy’s recent collections, excitedly swapped notes on their latest Blazy purchases. For all the sophistication of the clothes, there’s an undeniable and uncomplicated joy in wearing Chanel. Gimme more.