In 2026, does any form of cultural cachet come close to that of being deemed a Chanel girl? For his fifth runway show at the helm of Chanel, Matthieu Blazy’s imagining of the modern Chanel girl feels as aspirational and energetic as his very first.
Untethered from any one moment in time, Blazy’s collection speaks to the successive chapters of Gabrielle Chanel’s story, allowing them to coexist with equal importance. The opening look brought us “Gabrielle before Chanel”, as a model emerged onto the bird-adorned runway in a pared-back, corsetry-inspired ensemble. A frosty silk slip dress was complete with a camellia and accessorised with Gabrielle Chanel’s own 2.55 bag from the Patrimoine archives.
(Image credit: Launchmetrics/Spotlight)Skirts remain one of the season’s defining silhouettes, and here the knee-length pencil skirt became something of a blank canvas. Blazy rendered it in gauzy silks and hardy tweeds, illuminated it with metallic threads and intricate beading, then pushed the silhouette to the other extreme with high-volume tulle skirts that brought a buoyant joie de vivre to the house’s codes. Dresses, too, swanned down the runway in shades of icy blue, pink and rich burgundy.
(Image credit: Launchmetrics)The collection indulged in eccentricity without ever getting lost in it. Printed shoes in unexpected shades of forest green bookended looks, whilst tummy-grazing necklaces were layered with intricate beading that formed tiny scenes. Pop-art playfulness sat comfortably alongside Chanel’s more demure signatures—most notably the enduring tweed skirt suit.
(Image credit: Launchmetrics)Because the Chanel girl has always existed somewhere between fashion and pop culture: tweed-clad, polished and elegant, but never entirely serious. Blazy’s version feels like a natural evolution of that archetype—more playful, more buoyant, and brimming with charm.
Naturally, a seat to witness the spectacle was one of Paris’s most covetable tickets, placing guests among a particularly impressive roster of Chanel girls, from Dua Lipa and Ayo Edebiri to Nicole Kidman, alongside Pedro Pascal.
(Image credit: Getty Images)Matthieu Blazy's Chanel world is expansive, energetic and full of possibility—and, as such, one that everyone wants to be part of.