From Coco to Blazy: The Evolution of Chanel's Creative Vision
When you think Chanel, you think two-tone shoes, the Camellia flower, No. 5, pearls, the double C logo, the little black dress, and tweed, right? Thanks to Chanel herself and Karl Lagerfeld, creative director from 1983 to 2019, the fashion house’s brand identity is undeniably unique.
Chanel drew inspiration from menswear (a rare occurrence in the early 1900s) and incorporated gabardine, tweed, and jersey fabrics into her iconic suits and skirts. Lagerfeld reinterpreted many of Coco’s original designs but also produced funkier, more fun, and colorful looks than Chanel herself. So, after his death in 2019, his “right-hand,” Virginie Viard, who took over the creative direction of Chanel, had a great legacy to preserve.
She explored themes such as “French street chic, fantasy, sports, and seaside glamour” (Borrelli Persson). However, rather than continuing to revamp the brand during her tenure, Viard’s designs maintained Lagerfeld’s style– perhaps excessively. She “toned down the runway theatrics he was known for” and her “efforts to make Chanel feel younger often fell flat” (Friedman and Testa). Viard stepped down in June 2024, and her role was assigned to Mattieu Blazy, whose debut took place in October 2025. He certainly made a statement with his first collection. Let’s take a look at his debut!
Image via Met Museum
According to the fashion world, no other creative directorship had been as widely speculated as Chanel's. The company needed to find the perfect person to produce designs of the same nature as Chanel and Lagerfeld’s. People could sense the temporary nature and ingenuity of Virginie’s career at Chanel and wanted something new and fresh, which Mattieu Blazy accomplished.
Images via Harpers Bazaar
The show was held in the Grand Palais, and the location was decorated with a constellation of oversized models of the planets.
This design set the symbolism of his collection– the gravity of and infinitely large plans he has for Chanel's creative direction. The New York Times’s Vanessa Friedman wrote, “It turned out he wasn’t just remaking the world of Coco. He was remaking the universe.”
Blazy incorporated many typical Chanel motifs, such as cap toe shoes, pearls, and the Camellia flower, but his wide variety of fun colors, textures, and patterns feels like a breath of fresh air for the fashion house. He used a lot of fringe material for this collection, as seen in the skirts and headpieces, suits with bold stripes, and, in general, combined many fabrics and materials. The shoes were bright colored, and the contrast of the classic two-tone took a different shape. Rather than on the toe of the shoe, some of them were in a V shape. As for the traditional tweed suits, I love how they blend seamlessly with the beaded tweed bottoms, and how the big fringe skirts add movement to the stiff, corporate-looking blazers. In general, the collection displayed a “messy” vibe that I think really added to the new, contemporary Chanel. For example, the blunt crop of many of the jackets, the layered statement necklaces, and more.
Image via Chanel
The New York Times’ Vanessa Friedman labeled this collection as “Not Your Grandmother’s Chanel,” which I think puts it perfectly. I think Blazy successfully utilized Chanel’s iconic elements, but seamlessly added his own playful twist. While his predecessor’s collections seemed to lack a true creative vision separate from Lagerfeld’s, I believe Mattieu Blazy has truly set the tone for his time at Chanel. His upcoming works will have a distinct creative vision, and I believe that if he continues treating his future collections with this level of passion, he might be as impactful for Chanel as Lagerfeld or Coco herself was.
Until then, I’m excited to speculate what he has in store for Fall-Winter 2026!
Works Cited
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/style/chanel-virginie-viard.html
https://www.vogue.com/article/the-best-of-virginie-viards-chanel-as-it-appeared-in-the-pages-of-vogue
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/style/chanel-matthieu-blazy.html
https://www.chanel.com/us/fashion/spring-summer-2026/l/FshCollection26S/the-looks/
https://www.voguebusiness.com/story/fashion/a-galaxy-beyond-the-expectations-for-chanel-first-reactions-to-matthieu-blazys-debut-at-the-house
https://www.elle.com/uk/fashion/a68845006/chanel-matthieu-blazy-debut-spring-summer-2026/