A year into Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel, the house is beginning to feel increasingly like his own.
For Spring/Summer 2027, the designer returned to the Grand Palais with a collection that looked backwards without becoming trapped by the weight of Chanel’s history, instead pulling its most recognisable codes apart and allowing them to move a little more freely.
Beneath the glass roof of the Grand Palais, a flock of illuminated birds hung above the runway alongside a glowing moon, transforming the space into something between a night sky and a dreamscape. Blazy used migration and flight as a metaphor for Gabrielle Chanel’s own journey towards independence, but the idea carried into the clothes, too: things felt lighter, less restricted and occasionally unfinished.
A sheer white dress, decorated with a soft rosette at the chest, was paired with Gabrielle Chanel’s original 2.55 handbag. Naturally, tweed also remained central and Blazy continued to loosen it. Sheer embroidered skirt suits appeared alongside cropped jackets, pleated mini-skirts and softened constructions, while frayed hems and metallic embellishments disrupted the pristine finish. A red-and-white tiger-print tweed pushed things further still, injecting something louder and less polite into one of Chanel’s most established signatures.
Jackets were worn against bare skin, transparent fabrics exposed what sat underneath and delicate dresses moved around the body. At the other end of the spectrum came more masculine tailoring, raw-edged waistcoats and longer coats, allowing Blazy to move between traditionally feminine Chanel signatures and something altogether more boyish.
Bright knitted fabrics and richly embroidered jackets interrupted the more familiar neutral palette, while layered silks shifted in tone as they moved. Towards the end, the sky itself appeared to work its way into the collection, with a sequence inspired by different stages of the day eventually giving way to Anok Yai in a constellation-covered dress.
Accessories remained unmistakably Chanel, although even these were pushed away from the expected. Two-tone pumps appeared in more exotic finishes, chunky sandals arrived with gold branding, and quilted bags were reworked through unexpected patterns including zebra print.
SS27 is the the clearest sign yet of where Blazy wants to take Chanel. He isn’t trying to escape the house’s past, nor is he interested in reproducing it exactly. SS27 instead treated that history as material to work with, making Chanel feel lighter, younger and less precious in the process.
And when Blazy ran onto the runway at the end of the show to Britney Spears’ “Gimme More,” it felt strangely appropriate.
