Matthieu Blazy loves women. And it shows. If he has become the most admired, sought-after, and—let’s face it—emulated designer of recent seasons, perhaps the explanation is much less complicated than one might think. His partnership with Chanel isn’t the result of some mystical alignment of the stars, but rather the perfect union between a historic and iconic fashion house and a designer with a deeply defined artistic DNA—one capable of embracing the legacy of Chanel and that of his illustrious predecessor, Karl Lagerfeld, without compromising his own vision. In fact, he imposes it with discretion, through those touches that now make his work instantly recognizable: above all, an extraordinary ability to interpret materials, transforming them through sophisticated, intelligent techniques that are never an end in themselves.
But there is something even more important. Blazy has been able to grasp the needs of his time with rare clarity, bringing to the runway, season after season, a lightness and a zest for life that have nothing to do with superficiality. It’s a spirit that doesn’t ignore reality, but chooses to face it with optimism, determination, and an almost joyful willingness to continually push the boundaries.
Her women are a multitude. They are diverse expressions of a femininity that refuses to be confined to a single definition and that, on the contrary, seems to want to embrace all of its own immensity. Blazy has deliberately chosen to move away from the now-obsolete stereotypes of the Parisian Chanel girl, finding a language capable of speaking to a femininity that is multifaceted in terms of age, style, desires, and life. A femininity in which every woman can recognize herself without necessarily having to conform to a single model.
The Spring/Summer 2027 collection is no exception. On the contrary, it reaffirms the design codes that Blazy has already established at the fashion house, this time with an even more sophisticated elegance. The skirt remains one of his signature pieces, as do blazer suits, office-core ensembles, rich textures, and meticulous craftsmanship—which to describe simply as “precious” would be almost an understatement.
Yet, compared to previous collections, this season introduces a new sense of lightness. A more overt sensuality, but never in-your-face: in the midi skirts made of impalpable fabrics that caress and reveal the body, in the ballerina-inspired silhouettes with billowing tulle skirts and corset tops that leave the shoulders bare, in the 1920s-style long dresses in printed silk, and in the vibrantly colored crocodile-embossed belts worn low on the waist. And also in the bird-shaped jeweled brooches, which seem to hold the ends of the tweed jackets together like tiny precious objects suspended on the body.
It is precisely in this delicate balance between seduction and good taste that one of the most intriguing qualities of Blazy’s Chanel lies. It is a balance that the designer never ceases to blend, reinterpret, and traverse with the same ease with which the fashion show’s soundtrack can shift from Tchaikovsky’s “Valse sentimentale” to Britney Spears, from “Take On Me” to the ethereal and triumphant “Arrival of the Birds.”
Her Chanel is setting new standards of desirability in international fashion. And the paradox is that she does so without establishing a single, definitive code. Blazy doesn’t tell her women who they must be: she offers them the tools to explore joy, desire, beauty, seduction, and impeccable tailoring, without letting any one of these elements take precedence over the others. Perhaps this is precisely his greatest insight: realizing that femininity today no longer needs to be defined in order to be expressed. His women don’t have to choose. They can be romantic or austere, sensual or composed, sophisticated or irreverent. They can change their minds, their silhouettes, their age, their desires.
They can, quite simply, fly.
[📷 Getty Images]
