Introduction to Chanel’s New Era

Fashion cannot exist without changes, but some changes transcend the season. When it was announced last year that Chanel no longer had a creative director, people across the industry looked to the house with nervous anticipation. For almost 40 years, Chanel had expressed the vision of one man: Karl Lagerfeld. After his death in 2019, his long-time deputy Virginie Viard continued his style. Viard’s departure last year opened up one of the highest places in the fashion world, but also raised the possibility that Chanel’s taste could take a surprising turn.

The New Creative Director

Matthieu Blazy, a relatively young designer who had distinguished himself at Bottega Veneta by doing surprising things with leather, was not considered an obvious choice, and when he was announced as artistic director a year ago, he was tasked not only with emerging from a very long shadow but also with showing where he could go as a designer with largely unknown skills. The house’s future course – and much about its fate in the 21st century – would depend on its debut in October.

Preparing for the First Show

As the night of that first show arrives, the vault behind the stage of the Grand Palais, a Beaux-Arts wonder on the banks of the Seine, trembles with preparation. The floor, covered in light gray felt, is masked with a catwalk application. Models hurry and loiter around in gowns and hair clips. Blazy appears 40 minutes before the show starts at 8 p.m., tense and pale. “To be honest, I’m a bit at a loss – I’m going to smoke a cigarette,” he says and storms off again.

Blazy’s Background and Style

Blazy came to Bottega in secret after a nearly 20-year career as a deputy, a secret weapon that had become an open secret. At Raf Simons, where he started after school, he was known for introducing complexity into pattern making; At Maison Margiela he designed the crystal-encrusted masks that became one of the house’s symbols. His work at Bottega was characterized by a sophisticated understanding of the craft and his ability to synthesize seemingly contradictory ideas into surprisingly human wholes. “Strength meets softness, structure meets fluidity,” says one of the show’s participants. "But he also sees every type of woman. I feel like myself in a really beautiful dress, but it could be sexy or demure."

The Debut Show

Four screens on one side of the room provide a window to the outside world: the interior of the hall, two views of red carpet arrivals and drone surveillance of the crowds behind the gates on the sidewalk outside. Everyone is looking for Blazy. The models take their place in the lineup; audiovisual workers murmur into their earpieces. When the designer finally shows up, he takes a brisk tour, smiles broadly at his colleagues and then goes off to find his own nerves. He says he’s not worried about anything in particular, just everything. “My mother describes it as the stress of taking your kids to school on the first day – you know everything is going to be okay, but still,” he says, wrapping his arms tightly around himself and looking at the models waiting to be counted out. He looks from the screens at the models and then adds with cautious satisfaction: “It feels like a big leap.”