Chanel's Paris Fashion Week Show Inspired by Monet's Artistry
The set for Chanel's Paris Fashion Week show was a chic building site, with cranes in Meccano-bright colours towering over the catwalk. According to designer Matthieu Blazy, the opalescent floor shimmered with sequin-bright reflections, drawing inspiration from the works of Monet. This artistic reference has become a backstage buzzword this week, as fashion giants like Dior and Chanel vie for bragging rights over French cultural heritage.
Rebuilding Chanel with Enthusiastic Innovation
Matthieu Blazy, who joined Chanel last year, is rebuilding the brand with a kid-in-a-candy-store enthusiasm that is evident in his confident approach. The show's invitation was a tiny stainless steel tape measure on a pendant, symbolising his meticulous immersion into house history. After the presentation, Blazy greeted reporters clutching a folded printout of a 1955 interview Coco Chanel gave to Le Figaro, an artifact even Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion since 1990, had never encountered before.
Blazy's infectious energy has resonated with customers, leading to packed Chanel boutiques throughout the week. A simple cotton shirt embroidered with the Chanel name sold out at 3,900 euros, and new season bags are limited to one per customer to curb resale at inflated prices.
Updating Chanel's Signature Styles
"Chanel is function, Chanel is fiction," Blazy stated, echoing Coco Chanel's revolutionary declaration of black as the epitome of elegance. On the catwalk, the classic Chanel jacket was reimagined in oversized shirt silhouettes reminiscent of French chore jackets, with flipped collars and turned-back cuffs, or as blousons paired with trousers. Influences from Phoebe Philo, with whom Blazy worked at Celine, are detectable in the confident colours, untucked hems, and a loosening of Chanel's strict lozenge shapes.
The show concluded with a soft jersey little black dress, a tribute to Coco's iconic contribution, reworked with an open back and a single silk camellia decoration. Pavlovsky praised Blazy's depth of research, noting that unlike Karl Lagerfeld's often ambiguous storytelling, Blazy is starting anew from the roots of the brand.
Luxury Rivalry and Global Focus
As Paris Fashion Week drew to a close, another luxury giant, Louis Vuitton, held a show in a modernist marquee hidden in the Louvre's internal courtyard. Designer Nicolas Ghesquière, recently knighted in the Legion of Honour, presented a collection inspired by nomadic life and folklore, with jackets featuring angel-wing shoulder pads and bags hooked over staffs. Backstage, Ghesquière reflected on fashion as anthropology, expressing diverse cultures and collective experiences worldwide.
Meanwhile, Chanel faces high demand for the Oscar red carpet, but Pavlovsky emphasised a current focus on teams in the Middle East, where boutiques remain open at government request while prioritising security for staff. This blend of artistic innovation and strategic global management underscores the dynamic landscape of high fashion during Paris Fashion Week.
