Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel Fairytale Haute Couture Debut

With his haute couture debut, the designer confirms a dream beginning at fashion’s most storied house.

By any measure, Chanel is the most daunting job in fashion. A near-mythical house founded by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel herself, shaped for decades by Karl Lagerfeld, and now generating close to $20 billion annually, it carries both immense cultural weight and commercial pressure. That burden now rests on the shoulders of Matthieu Blazy a 41-year-old Belgian designer whose reputation, until recently, was largely insider knowledge.

And yet, with his haute couture debut, his third collection since taking the helm, Blazy has made something very clear: this is not a cautious tenure. This is a fairytale in motion.

A Standing Ovation at the Grand Palais

Staged in the Grand Palais, transformed into a surreal willow forest of sugar-pink trees and oversized fairytale mushrooms, the show ended in a standing ovation. The audience, Anna Wintour, Nicole Kidman, Dua Lipa among them, rose as one. Backstage, seasoned Chanel staff exchanged high-fives, a rare show of emotion in an industry that prides itself on restraint. Clients shrugged sable coats to the floor, phones out, capturing grinning selfies amid the spectacle.

By every possible metric, industry buzz, client response, critical acclaim Blazy’s Chanel is soaring.

Reinventing the Codes, Gently

The collection opened with a knowing nod to the house’s most sacred symbol: the Chanel suit. But instead of tweed, Blazy rendered it in tissue-thin mousseline, so light that the signature chain sewn into the hem shimmered and swayed with every step. It was Chanel, unmistakably, but reimagined with air, movement, and surprise.

Throughout the collection, heritage codes were softened and subverted. A slip dress appeared beneath a transparent jacket, its spaghetti straps replaced by ropes of jewels. A birdcage earring encased a single pearl. A pristine little black dress turned to reveal a racerback framed by flashes of crimson feathers. Denim jeans, on closer inspection, were revealed to be trompe l’œil mousseline, hand-painted to deceive the eye. A raven-inspired gown shimmered with leather feathers, blurring the line between fantasy and craftsmanship.

This playfulness, long a Blazy hallmark from his work at Maison Margiela and Bottega Veneta, felt newly tender here. The magic was not ironic. It was sincere.

Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel Fairytale Haute Couture Debut

Couture With a Human Heart

What truly distinguishes Blazy’s Chanel, however, is not technical virtuosity alone, though the craftsmanship was nothing short of heroic, but an unmistakable warmth toward the women who wear the clothes.

The casting was deliberately multigenerational and diverse, a choice Blazy has spoken about with conviction. “Women who are more mature bring a completely different dimension to my clothes,” he said backstage. “They are not just beautiful; they have lived. They are anchored. They have seen the world.”

That philosophy extended beyond casting into the very fabric of the garments. For his first haute couture show, Blazy wanted the collection to feel light, joyful, and deeply personal, “an adventure,” as he put it, in response to what he described as a harsh world. Each model was invited to choose something intimate to be woven into her look: initials, a birthdate, a line of poetry, a love letter. One chose a single word, kindness.

Lesage, Paris’s legendary embroidery atelier, stitched these hidden messages into linings or onto fabric notes tucked inside quilted handbags. They were not meant to be seen by the audience. They were meant to be carried.

A Grown-Up Fairytale

Ahead of the show, a teaser film featuring animated bluebirds flitting across Paris rooftops raised eyebrows. Coco Chanel, after all, was famously unsentimental. But Blazy’s genius lies in knowing how to balance whimsy with gravity. What could have veered into cutesy instead landed as something rarer: a grown-up fairytale.

This is a Chanel that allows for softness without sacrificing strength, romance without nostalgia. It understands that modern luxury is not about distance or intimidation, but recognition, seeing yourself, your life, your memories, reflected in something exquisitely made.

The Beginning of a New Era

So far, Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel is firmly in its fairytale era, but not one of fantasy alone. It is a story rooted in craft, in empathy, and in a renewed understanding of who couture is for. In an industry often obsessed with youth and spectacle, Blazy is quietly, confidently reminding us that elegance can be generous, and magic can be human.

If this is only the beginning, Chanel’s next chapters promise to be not just beautiful, but meaningful.