CHANEL: AW26
Matthieu Blazy wants us to dance and so he made the perfect collection to move in. Turning the Grand Palais into the sleekest possible construction site, there were primary-coloured cranes towering over us, symbolic of a work in progress, a sense of imagination at work and a future in the making. A poetic playfulness and quite a humble show setting.
Throughout the last week in Paris, the talk of the town has been the manic madness happening inside the Chanel Rue Cambon store, as clients have clamboured to get their hands on Blazy's first ready-to-wear collection that hit stores this week - and mostly sold out immediately. Naturally, they were all wearing it to the show. Blazy doubled down, with a collection that soared to epic new heights.
For Autumn Winter '26, the designer had been inspired by this quote from Gabrielle Chanel: "Fashion is both caterpillar and butterfly. 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.” So he made a well-rounded wardrobe of intricate, clever pieces for when we're feeling caterpillar-esque or ready to bloom into a butterfly.
Waists were dropped ultra low and belted, dresses were loose and made for movement, lightweight tweed shirts were interwoven with with a silk jersey and subtly hemmed with classic Chanel leather woven chains. There was a never-ending fluidity to the looks that all fell quite long and never obstructed the wearer. And then came the iridescence. With the colours of the natural world in mind, Blazy performed a butterfly-like metamorphosis, transforming Chanel flap bags into shimmering metallic new icons, suits came in gleaming rainbow glo-mesh, layers of technicolour necklaces and gemstones, and watery lurex slip dresses were softly trimmed with lace.
It was a collection very much designed for women who want to actually feel good in what they wear, in their own skin, as they are. After a season that has been dominated by a lot of 'mini' and skin-tight clothing, Chanel felt relaxed, self-assured and intuitive.
As the artistic director said in the show notes: “Chanel is a paradox. Chanel is function, Chanel is fiction. Chanel is sensible, Chanel is seductive. Chanel is day, Chanel is night. It represents the freedom to choose between the caterpillar and the butterfly whenever you want. I wish to create a canvas for women to be unapologetically who they are and who they want to be.” As they walked to Lady Gaga's Just Dance for the finale, we were sure that every woman in the Grand Palais was incredibly grateful to be a Chanel girl.
