March 10, 2026 |
“I was interested in the idea of building a dream, a work in progress,” said Chanel’s Matthieu Blazy who created a cosmic, construction site show set to underline that point.
His foundation stones are the house codes and the personal style of Gabrielle Chanel whom with he imagines himself to be in conversation. Each show, (this is his fourth) expands the language.
This sophomore RTW collection was sparked by a newspaper interview Coco gave in the 1950s. “Fashion is both caterpillar and butterfly,” she said. “Be a caterpillar by day and a butterfly by night. There is nothing more comfortable than a caterpillar and nothing more made for love than a butterfly. We need dresses that crawl and dresses that fly. The butterfly doesn’t go to the market, and the caterpillar doesn’t go to the ball.” Blazy translated that as practical by day, spectacular at night.
His version of Coco’s ‘Caterpillar dressing’ revolves around the Chanel skirt suit. It came every which way. He reinvented it for supreme comfort in knit, with a zip-up four-pocket jacket that’s as easy as a tracksuit. Last season’s Charvet shirts have evolved into this season’s tweed over-shirt. The hot contender for an ‘It’ piece, they were silk lined and sometimes braid-trimmed. Blazy popped them over a matching skirt, or over suits in lieu of a coat, making the Chanel skirt-suit suddenly feel utterly relaxed and modern. They were based on workwear in tribute to Coco. “She took clothes from the working class, changed the context, and said ‘this is luxury, too,’” said Blazy.
Shirts, always worn casually untucked (but weighted with the signature Chanel chains at the hem, and bearing beautiful, jewellery-crafted buttons), underlined the effortless vibe. Their gauzy fabric inspired by a golden gauze that lines the walls of Coco’s apartment in the Ritz. Blazy is bringing a modern energy to the Chanel uniform. Elsewhere, tweed bomber jackets replaced formal tailoring for a sporty spin on the classic ensemble.
The tweeds themselves were ribbon light, handcrafted and backed by silk. Some were trompe l’oeil and looked checked from afar but were actually drawn with lines of latex inspired by Jackson Pollock.
Blazy referenced the Twenties with extreme drop waist silhouettes belted mid-thigh, before kicking out with extravagant flourish. ’20s-style flapper dresses lavishly embellished with 3D flower and gold chain embroidery were worn with thoroughly modern flat loafers. These were ‘butterfly’ pieces with Blazy lavishing his looks and accessories with nature inspired embroideries and charming enamel flowers, fruit and animals as the collection exploded into joyful exuberance.
The suit reigned supreme for evening too, done in vivid plush lurex or lightweight chainmail, trimmed with metallic braid and painted with an iridescent check. Even the models had glittering holographic hairstyles. He ended, however, with a drop dead simple draped LBD, a feather flowering bare back its only decoration. Blazy understands desire.
The drop of his debut collection a few days before the show sparked pandemonium in Chanel boutiques, as customers clamoured to get their hands on their first Blazy pieces – (the Look 1 jacket, worn by Michelle Obama, the scrunched up flap bag and the contrast-toe court shoes sparked the most competition amongst buyers).
You don’t have to be young or super skinny to wear Blazy’s Chanel. You don’t have to be locked into the fickle trend cycle. “I wish to create a canvas for women to be unapologetically who they are and who they want to be,” said Blazy, and by every measure, his approach is working.
Photography by Christina Fragkou.
