PARIS — Matthieu Blazy has been named inventive director of trend collections at Chanel, opening a brand new period for the French couture and sweetness large.
Blazy joins Chanel following a three-year stint at Kering’s Bottega Veneta, the place his collections celebrated the model’s fusion of conventional Italian craftsmanship, supplies innovation and a kaleidoscope of cultural references, attracting trade respect and an eclectic forged of A-list muses.
Blazy succeeds Virginie Viard, a longtime deputy of Karl Lagerfeld who exited the model in June after 5 years as inventive director. Previously, Lagerfeld, who died in 2019, led the model for 36 years, fuelling the 114 year-old label’s transformation into a world megabrand.
“Matthieu grew to become an apparent selection for the model as we got here to know his expertise, his persona, his groundedness, his tradition,” Chanel’s trend president Bruno Pavlovsky advised BoF in an interview forward of the announcement. “The interview course of was actually inspiring as we grew to know him: his imaginative and prescient for creation, his modernity, his respect for and dedication to merchandise and the ladies who encompass and encourage him.”
With practically $20 billion in annual income, trend’s second-biggest model doesn’t want a “revolution” so to talk, in keeping with Pavlovsky. But Chanel is nonetheless positioning the rent as a historic, transformative transfer for the corporate.
“We didn’t select Matthieu to only ‘do Chanel,’ we selected him so he may push the boundaries of what Chanel is, for the longer term,” Pavlovsky stated. “He will deliver his modernity, his approach of working — Chanel is able to let itself be transported.”
Blazy is about to affix Chanel by April 2025, forward of a debut assortment slated for subsequent September.
Blazy’s Path
The designer, aged 40, reduce his tooth as a younger artistic director main the nameless studio at Maison Margiela following founder Martin Margiela’s exit in 2011. He went on to work underneath Phoebe Philo at Celine and Raf Simons at Calvin Klein earlier than becoming a member of Bottega Veneta in 2020, initially as ready-to-wear director underneath Daniel Lee.
As artistic director of Bottega Veneta since November 2021, Blazy has turn into recognized for runway collections that put cutting-edge craft within the highlight, in addition to a kaleidoscopic mixture of references to artwork, design and cinema. Creating shocking clothes from inspirations as banal as an oxford shirt or denims — utilizing ultra-realistic trompe-l’œil results to render these informal sportswear staples in printed leather-based, for instance — was considered one of Blazy’s signatures.
During his tenure, the model’s ambassadors included masters of their fields spanning ages and nationalities: actresses Michelle Yeoh and Julianne Moore; rapper and elegance icon A$AP Rocky and Priscilla main man Jacob Elordi.
Blazy’s imaginative and prescient of trend isn’t about “altering simply to alter,” Pavlovsky stated. “There is an actual depth to what Matthieu does, from the exhibits to the merchandise, to his approach of speaking about them.”
Broad Mandate
Blazy’s appointment follows a prolonged search as Chanel labored to determine the fitting designer to reinvigorate its model message and supply added artistic thrust to its huge operation.
Chanel’s inventive director oversees six runway exhibits per yr throughout ready-to-wear and couture, in addition to pink carpet tasks and business collections that embrace every thing from $500 hair clips to $10,000 purses, capsules for ski and sand. Its designer additionally often performs a hands-on position steering the model’s advertising: Karl Lagerfeld shot many campaigns himself; Viard labored in shut partnership with the pictures duo Inez and Vinoodh to refresh and add selection to its picture.
“There’s an necessary collective dimension to what we do at Chanel,” Pavlovsky stated. “Matthieu stays true to his personal robust, seductive persona — he’ll deliver his exceptionalism to the model — however on the similar time he has an actual imaginative and prescient of the collective. We by no means stopped talking in regards to the groups.”
Reviving Momentum
Chanel’s revenues have surged lately as the luxurious sector boomed following the coronavirus pandemic. The firm reported revenues of $19.7 billion in 2023, up greater than 75 p.c over 5 years. Prices surged as properly, making the once-untouchable model a straightforward goal for complaints about every thing from high quality (usually known as out as not up-to-par with the elevated price) to design (nonetheless commercially resonant, however typically seen as a bit stale).
Its new designer might want to advance the model’s artistic message whereas nonetheless serving purchasers with merchandise which can be fascinating — and wearable — sufficient to justify the splurge. That’s a much bigger problem than common as the luxurious sector navigates a downturn in demand throughout key markets. Chanel has not reported figures since 2023, however sector bellwether LVMH noticed trend gross sales fall 7 p.c within the third quarter, whereas Richemont’s gross sales slipped 1 p.c.
Chanel has had a “harder” yr together with the broader sector, though its gross sales are “only a bit, not quite a bit, much less good than 2023,” Pavlovsky stated.
At a journey present in Hangzhou, China final week, Pavlovsky was reassured to see that regardless of an financial disaster in the important thing market, “a number of purchasers are nonetheless extraordinarily passionate in regards to the model.”
Under Blazy, Bottega Veneta was a uncommon shiny spot as the luxurious trade entered a downturn, persevering with to publish modest development even because it in the reduction of on its publicity to wholesale. Blazy’s rigorous method to product growth will place the home to maintain up with a “excessive demand for that means and worth,” amongst purchasers, he added.
When purchasers get to see and find out about merchandise up-close, as throughout occasions like Chanel’s journey exhibits, “that sublimates the gathering; it simply multiplies purchasers’ curiosity,” Pavlovsky stated.
“It’s as much as manufacturers to do this deep work on their merchandise, and to interact the purchasers. If enterprise has been harder these days, it’s a very good wake-up name for everybody,” he added. “We need to preserve creating one thing actual.”
