Matthieu Blazy looked to the heavens for his first Chanel collection, reimagining the house’s codes through a cosmic lens. Beneath a constellation of suspended planets at the Grand Palais, he conjured a dreamlike dialogue between past and present – one that traced Coco’s legacy from Boy Capel’s borrowed shirts to Karl’s feathered galaxies.
“I love everything that is above: the sky, the moon, I believe in the stars,” Gabrielle Chanel once said. It was a quote that glittered through Matthieu Blazy’s long-awaited debut for the house. Beneath a constellation of glowing planets at the Grand Palais, Blazy opened his own dialogue with Coco: “For this first Chanel show, I wanted to do something quite universal, like a dream, something outside of time,” he explains, “and I was fascinated by the universe of stars, a theme so dear to the House. We all observe the same sky, and I think it provokes the same emotions in us.”
What unfolded, to quote the collection notes, was 'a borderless blending of styles' in three chapters: work, day, and the universal. With a star-studded front row looking on (including new ambassadors Nicole Kidman and Ayo Edebiri), it began with Boy Capel’s borrowed shirt and trousers, reimagined in collaboration with the storied French shirtmaker Charvet. Blazy weighted hems with Chanel’s signature chain, merging masculine structure with feminine ease. Tweeds were pressed and lightened with viscose, giving them a kinetic, modern rhythm.
Daywear moved through time with a deliberate patina. The 2.55 bag appeared crushed and cherished, its burgundy lining exposed like the heart of an heirloom. Frayed tweeds and crushed camellias softened into knitted silks, while black-and-white lines and signature toe caps echoed the house’s Art Deco roots – a reminder that Gabrielle Chanel’s world was one of architecture as much as adornment. Baroque pearls and enamelled chains orbited transparent tweeds, while feathered skirts swept the floor, recalling the celestial theatrics of Karl Lagerfeld’s own galaxy, most notably his planet-strewn AW98 Chloé runway and the affinity for befeathered creations across his Chanel shows of the same decade.
By the final passage, L’Universel, Blazy’s intent was clear: to dissolve the notion of a singular Chanel woman and instate, instead, Chanel women.
See all the looks from Blazy's debut for Chanel, the full SS26 collection below.
