Show review in a sentence: The spirt of Chanel that lives within the everyday women
Designer: Matthieu Blazy
Location: Bowery subway station, New York
The vibe: With America at the centre of global attention this year—caught between acrimonious tariff battles and its own sticky political strife—it came as a surprise when news broke that Chanel would unveil Blazy’s first Métiers d’Art collection in the Big Apple. Politics aside and lest we forget, Coco Chanel herself first came to New York in 1931, where she inked her first major Hollywood contract to design costumes for films—mirroring the trajectory of her iconic Chanel No. 5, which entered the U.S. market in the 1920s.
The city of dreams, as it was once called, remains a melting pot of cultures and creativity. Every corner of its streets has become synonymous with the world’s most beloved films. From Sleepless in Seattle to Eyes Wide Shut, Breakfast at Tiffany’s to The Royal Tenenbaums, New York’s gritty cityscape has long provided a backdrop for cinematic imagination—and now, once again, for Chanel’s next chapter.
The vision: Held at the Delancey St & Bowery station, nestled in Lower Manhattan, the iconic railway stop, immortalised in Chanel’s teaser videos, came to life tonight as the MTA train screeched to a halt and models emerged like everyday commuters: the working class, the quiet superheroes, the widows, the off-duty actresses, the musicians and the ladies of leisure, all colliding on a single platform. “I think it’s a place with no hierarchy,” Blazy shares and just as intended, the space played out like a cinematic crossroads where paths intersected as if fate had storyboarded them and the clothes spoke to an entire spectrum of women.
From easy cashmere jumpers to cute twinsets and little black dresses, the collection unfolded with such textured nuance that it genuinely took me a moment to fully digest what I had just witnessed. There was a palpable restraint in the embroidery department too; craft under Blazy felt considered and intentional. And for a Métiers d’Art collection where heavy embroidery and beadwork often jostle for centre stage, this newfound lightness felt youthful, energetic and refreshingly modern.
Embellishment appeared as subtle trimmings on shoulder straps or reimagined as pinstripes on ’30s-style suits that recalled Clark Gable in Gone With the Wind—made even cooler tonight by runway sensation Alex Consani. There were, of course, full-look showpieces drenched in handwork, but even those came with a nudge of humour: beads, hand-blown glass and raffia fashioned to look like popcorn stuck to an outfit after a late-night movie run.
I have to say, the choreography—the way the models moved with an almost casual rhythm—added a sense of nonchalance and ease to the presentation. It gave the clothes room to breathe. Take the classic tweed jacket, for instance: elongated, slightly dropped at the shoulder, worn like an overshirt. Or the ’30s-style flapper dress that falls on the body like an oversized T-shirt. There is also the iconic leopard print—first seen on Coco Chanel herself in 1939 and later immortalised by Barbra Streisand in the ’60s—now reborn as modish strap dresses, enveloping coats and two of the most exquisite petal skirts (trimmed in feathers no less) of the night. Either one could have closed the show right that very second.
And in all honesty, no Blazy presentation is complete without his distinct blend of irony. The “everyday superheroes” saw “Diana Prince” appear first, cloaked beneath an obsidian coat, her telltale sign impossible to miss—those red-and-white Wonder Woman boots flashing with each stride across the platform. Clark Kent’s metamorphosis, meanwhile, was cleverly reimagined as a royal-blue knit reworked with a double-C twist (just seen on newly minted ambassador ASAP Rocky yesterday) as the Superman crest, worn beneath Blazy’s signature boyish suiting and his now-in-demand pinstripe shirts.
What to shop from this collection: Favoured by the fashion critics while the collection appears slightly foreign to previous Chanel customers, I would definitely say go for the embroidered leopard-printed jacket (look 4), given it is a classic silhouette with just an updated motif—especially considering how animal prints almost never go out of style. The Venom-inspired ensemble (look 14) is sure to inject a vivid pop of colour into your wardrobe—and believe me when I say that it is also going to be a great conversation starter, given its IYKYK Marvel leanings. The accessories didn’t go unnoticed either: cue the classic 2.55, reimagined as a squirrel, complete with a furry tail as a shoulder strap (look 58). And lest we forget—my absolute favourite (look 22)—an outfit that takes the idea of glamour to a whole new level of cool.
1 / 14
Look 4
2 / 14
Look 11
3 / 14
Look 14
4 / 14
Look 21
5 / 14
Look 22
6 / 14
Look 26
7 / 14
Look 31
8 / 14
Look 35
9 / 14
Look 39
10 / 14
Look 58
11 / 14
Look 63
12 / 14
Look 64
13 / 14
Look 65
14 / 14
