Marking one year since taking the creative helm at Chanel, Matthieu Blazy unveiled a spring-summer 2027 collection at the Grand Palais in Paris, pairing a floating flock of ninety-five giant white birds with high-craft fabric innovation, celebrity-packed front rows, and soaring global demand.
Chanel artistic director Matthieu Blazy marked his first anniversary at the French fashion house with a dramatic runway presentation under a domed steel and glass ceiling in Paris where ninety-five giant white birds hung suspended.
Inspired by migrating birds he watched fly above the Crati River while on holiday in southern Italy with his partner, the designer turned the Grand Palais into an open-air spectacle that broke sharply with past austerity. Nicole Kidman, Dua Lipa, and Pedro Pascal watched from the audience as models moved beneath the illuminated installation.
The collection opened with a nod to vintage underwear. Model Dyanira Hurbuscher walked the runway carrying Gabrielle Chanel’s very own 2.55 handbag, borrowed directly from the house archives. Blazy noted that the founder kept very few bags in her lifetime, remarking that the vintage leather piece retained a wonderful patina.
Matthieu Blazy Revives Chanel Heritage
Figures reported by Bloomberg showed 16% growth for the company in the first half of 2026. Chanel currently holds the number one spot on the Lyst index of the world’s hottest brands, which tracks social media engagement and consumer search demand.
Vanity Fair also named Blazy the only fashion designer on its list of the world’s fifty most powerful people. The luxury brand confirmed the French-Belgian designer as Virginie Viard’s successor in December 2024, with his first day falling on April 1, 2025, before he debuted his first runway show for the French fashion house on October 6.
Colleagues and fashion critics note that Blazy’s cheerful demeanor stands in sharp contrast to past approaches at the label, talking about his job like a child in a candy store rather than a tortured artist. Blazy noted that after several years when the decaffeinated aesthetic of quiet luxury dominated fashion, the new Chanel shouts with cereal-aisle colors.
“Throughout their lives, women become multiple selves, different faces of the same coin. It’s like a game of exquisite corpse, where one identity leads to another. It’s about the women within a woman. And here, it’s about one woman, Gabrielle, who then became Chanel.”
Matthieu Blazy, Artistic Director at Chanel
Fabric Innovation Brings Smocked Tweed to the Grand Palais
The house introduced a new proprietary textile involving a year of fabric innovation: a smocked silk on an elasticated membrane designed as an answer to what sporty could mean at Chanel, giving the iconic fabric athletic stretch and movement.
The collection also embraced vibrant color palettes and unexpected prints. Cereal-aisle shades replaced the subdued tones of quiet luxury, featuring a red-and-white embroidered jacket paired with a jade and turquoise skirt, plus bag and boots in navy and gold, alongside the iconic two-tone pumps rendered in zebra stripes and yellow polka dots instead of the traditional camel and black. Fashion was women’s homemade remedy for dark times, Blazy told reporters following the presentation.
The famous soft-shouldered Chanel suit came worn with nothing beneath, like perfume, with Blazy noting he likes the idea that wearing it directly on the skin makes a fetish of the suit for a little punk Chanel touch. The appearance of a pulp fiction trench coat sealed a Hitchcockian deal, while a birdcage minaudière with its birds flown hinted at where the designer’s head was at. Dyanira Hurbuscher opened and closed the collection, framing the ambition of continuity paired with room for change.
Celebrity Red Carpets Drive High-Profile Ambassadorships
Celebrity partnerships have fueled the momentum of Blazy’s first year, maintaining the label’s relationship with longtime celebrity clients while welcoming new figures to the world of Chanel. Ayo Edebiri became an official brand ambassador around the Spring 2026 show. Nicole Kidman returned to the luxury house as the face of Chanel No. 5, a role she first held in 2004, and attended the spring-summer 2027 show alongside her daughter Faith Margaret.
Dua Lipa brought a sleeveless skirt suit with pink heels to the audience. Other A-listers showcased custom creations from Blazy’s collections, such as Gracie Abrams wearing a Chanel by Matthieu Blazy dress at the BAFTAs in February 2026, and Margot Robbie debuting a glamorous velvet gown complete with a ruby corset, intricate drapery, and an elongated train for the Paris premiere of Wuthering Heights.