Chanel's Blazy Builds Bold New Silhouettes

Matthieu Blazy, six months into his tenure at Chanel, presented his second ready-to-wear collection during Paris Fashion Week. The show's set featured rising cranes, symbolizing the designer's ongoing creative construction. Blazy focused on the duality of "dresses that crawl and dresses that fly," balancing plainness with spectacle and discipline with fantasy. The opening looks were deliberately austere, featuring items like black knit zip-ups and tweed blousons, representing the foundational "brick" of a suit from which other designs emerge. Blazy reinterpreted Chanel's codes by stripping down suits to knit shirt jackets or blousons before rebuilding them with innovative materials like silicone-woven fabric and metallic mesh.

The collection's most striking element was its silhouette, featuring dramatically low waistlines with belts slung to mid-thigh. These were inspired by retro flapper styles, updated with modern elements like drop-waisted twinsets and patchwork dresses. The latter part of the show became more spectacular, with dazzling sequined plaid suits, beaded coats with star-chart embroidery, and metallic mesh mimicking tweed. Fabric flowers, trailing ribbons, and insect-wing details added to the theatricality. Blazy concluded the show with pared-back black and cream looks, assuring the audience of Chanel's enduring essence. This outing demonstrated Blazy's ability to honor Coco Chanel's voice without merely echoing it.