The New Chanel: A Dream or a Let Down?
The most anticipated show of the season was none other than Matthieu Blazy’s debut at Chanel, marking six years since the passing of Karl Lagerfeld and a full year since the departure of Virginie Viard. The Belgian designer started his career at Raf Simons, then moved on to design for Maison Margiela in 2014 before joining Phoebe Philo’s team at Celine. He later rejoined his mentor, Raf Simons, to design for Calvin Klein, and finally was appointed design director at Bottega Veneta before succeeding Daniel Lee as the creative director. His designs at Bottega, marked by masculine tailoring and an exceptional use of material, caught the attention of the industry. From leather made to look like denim to the iconic Andiamo bag, Blazy created numerous mouthwatering pieces during his tenure. Thus, his appointment at Chanel was viewed as nothing short of fantastic news. His predecessor, Viard, was rather disliked, as she turned Chanel’s ready-to-wear line into a wardrobe only your grandma would wear. Viard was stuck in the language of Lagerfeld yet lacked his boldness, which rendered her designs into repetitive variations of tweed jackets and dresses in unappealing colors.
The new Chanel show was set at the Grand Palais as per usual. Lagerfeld was famous for his remarkable sets, complete with flying space shuttle, supermarket, and icebergs. Blazy continued that tradition by hanging massive models of planets and stars from the roof, transforming the Grand Palais into a surreal realm of heavenly bodies. Instead of the austere and rigid garments of past seasons, Blazy’s Chanel was ephemeral and relaxed. The materials were much lighter, flowing as the models walked down the celestial path. It was a complete change of attitude, redefining what a modern Chanel woman should look like. Rather than the restrained and detached women that Viard was obsessed with, Blazy’s women were free and imaginative. It was more than just a leap from Viard’s Chanel; it was also an evolution from Lagerfeld’s Chanel, which defined much of what people know of the brand. Coco’s vision was long forgotten, becoming only a shadow of Lagerfeld's image of the legendary French house.
To prepare for this redefinition of Chanel, Blazy went back to the beginning, to Gabrielle herself. The founder of the French house was a daring designer who reinvented fashion, and many of her ideas became norms of contemporary fashion. As noted by Blazy in The Cut, Coco Chanel borrowed many ideas from the ways her lovers dressed. Putting women in men’s clothes was nothing short of revolutionary at that time, and that act inspired the suits we saw in the new collection. Blazy also paired oversized men’s shirts with billowing long skirts, some painted in exploding crimson red and adorned with feathers. Though I will say, Blazy devised similar designs at Bottega, putting women in masculine tailoring, and this time, like before, the oversized blazers and shirts could look out of place, draping awkwardly around the shoulders.
Blazy put a lot of work into the hems of the garments. There were several looks that burst into white blossoms at the hem, while some exploded into feathers that were carefully adorned by the artisan house of Lemarié. These were the details that had been missing from Chanel since 2019; the ability to dream and think differently had been stripped from the house. In fact, it was lost long before the passing of Lagerfeld, as toward the end of his tenure, his designs became nothing but lackluster.
The last look was an explosion of dreams: an iridescent silk top was cinched by a skirt that grew into a million pieces of feather with vibrant colors, each bouncing joyously as the model closed the show with a twirl between the stars. She gave Blazy a hug as he walked out for the finale, receiving a standing ovation from the audience. The Belgian designer seemed to have done it, filling the massive shoes left by Karl Lagerfeld.
The show was undoubtedly good, but by no means revolutionarily. It didn’t touch the soul like John Galliano’s last couture show for Margiela, nor did it deliver a perfect wardrobe for a modern woman like Louise Trotter for Bottega Veneta. The collection didn’t deliver enough emotion. As much as Blazy talked about love and how Chanel was founded on love, I didn’t feel it. I wanted to see burning passion from the clothes, like the stars Blazy hung in the Palais. I hope to feel it in his couture debut, where he won’t be confined by bounds of commerciality or wearability.
Featured Image Courtesy of WWD