Under towering mushrooms at the Grand Palais, Matthieu Blazy’s first haute couture collection for Chanel continues his exploration of the woman of the Maison, its exquisite craftsmanship expressed through whimsy
Haute couture, traditionally, is the moment when fashion houses retreat into the atelier and focus almost exclusively on the clothes: the hours, the fittings, the craft, the impossibility of it all. For Matthieu Blazy’s first haute couture collection at Chanel, the clothes matter, deeply, but – like with his prior two collections for the Maison – so does the wearer.
“Haute Couture is the very soul of Chanel – it is the foundation and the full expression of the House,” Blazy says in the show notes. “These are clothes that are as much about the wearer as the designer. It’s the clothes worn that give them a true story; their own story and an emotional resonance, giving women a canvas to tell their own story.”
Staged at the Grand Palais within a poetic landscape of willow trees and oversized mushrooms, the spring/summer ’26 show unfolded with a sense of hushed whimsy. Fittingly, Blazy cited a short, anonymous haiku – about a bird perched briefly on a mushroom before flying away – as a guiding reference. It wasn’t hard to see the parallel with couture as a fleeting moment.
The show opened with the Chanel suit reduced to its essentials. Rendered in sheer silk mousseline in soft, tender shades, it appeared softened and porous. Throughout the collection, Chanel’s codes were gently exposed more than they were rewritten. Love letters, a bottle of N°5, a red lipstick appeared as embroidery or jewellery, stitched into linings, tucked into pockets, or suspended from the chain that traditionally weights a jacket’s hem. Even the iconic bag was rendered transparent, revealing its contents – a reminder that Chanel has been as much to people's private lives as their public image.
From there, the collection began to shift. Birds became the central motif. Shapes, textures and movement hinted at plumage; pleating and embroidery stood in for feathers more often than feathers themselves. Raven-black tailoring showcased the precision of the house’s tailoring ateliers, while softer, coloured looks nodded to pigeons, herons, spoonbills and cockatoos. Despite the complexity of the workmanship (much of it realised through the flou ateliers and the artisans of le19M), the clothes moved easily, designed to follow the body rather than overwhelm it – couture for real women with a sense of self. A case in point: break-out star Bhavitha Mandava, the 25-year-old NYU student who recently made history as the first Indian model to open a Chanel show, who returned to the runway to close the show – beaming as she twirled in her own luminous ensemble of plumage.
Why birds? Blazy describes them simply as symbols of freedom, or, just as importantly, as themselves. It’s tempting to read that idea more personally: as Blazy’s own moment of pause before the house’s next chapter fully takes flight.
See all of the looks from the Chanel Haute Couture SS26 collection below.
