Matthieu Blazy’s second year at Chanel opened under a flock of birds. His Spring/Summer 2027 show on Monday (Oct. 5) filled the Grand Palais with illuminated cranes, a huge moon and a reflective floor, and used all of it to tell one story: Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel learning to move freely. AP, which reviewed the show, said a year into his tenure Blazy “has made the house feel newly unpredictable.”
The collection traced Chanel’s passage from Edwardian corsetry and tailoring to the loose, slipped-on suiting she invented, across 83 looks. Ruffled collars, peplums and corset boning marked the old structures. Raw-edged waistcoats and narrow skirt suits took men’s tailoring apart for women, and the standout was a new “smocked tweed” that stretches and moves like athleticwear, AP noted. Blazy’s notes explain the bird imagery.
It’s a collection about Gabrielle Chanel’s layered stories. Ultimately, Chanel took off, and each step she took led to her being free, like a bird.
Matthieu Blazy, in his show notes, Kuwait Times (AFP)
South China Morning Post reports that Blazy saw swifts and swallows as symbols of lightness and freedom. The show’s teaser, released days earlier, was a series of black-and-white David Bailey photographs, including one of a bird’s nest with a bird flying away, and birdsong played before the first look. Model Dyanira Hurbuscher opened and closed the show carrying Gabrielle Chanel’s own 2.55 handbag, borrowed from the house archives.
Not everything landed. AP found that competing patterns and frothy tutus sometimes tipped “towards costume,” while layered printed-silk dresses that turned cloud formations into shifting color were more persuasive. The Zoe Report praised the undone styling: long blouses left untucked, skinny belts knotted on purpose, and see-through tanks and blazers worn without a shirt.
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The soundtrack was part of the fun. Dua Lipa, Pedro Pascal, Nicole Kidman and Alexa Demie broke into subtle dance when “Take On Me” played, according to The Zoe Report, and the show closed on “Gimme More.” Kidman came with her daughter Faith Margaret, AP said, and AFP also spotted John Malkovich. For more faces from the week, see our Paris Fashion Week front-row roundup.
The business case is clear. While other fashion houses are struggling with weak or dipping sales, AFP wrote, Chanel’s “are taking flight,” and some of Blazy’s designs have sparked what it calls “Blazymania.” Paris closes the next day with Louis Vuitton at the Louvre, which we cover in our Louis Vuitton report.
