When so-called “ordinary” models step onto weathered subway tracks in tweed skirts, carrying Double-C logo handbags, it’s impossible not to blurt out: Come on—this is Chanel Métiers d’Art.
For a house that once unfurled red carpets at Salzburg castles and draped Mumbai palaces in jewels, Chanel’s decision to stage its Métiers d’Art show in an abandoned Bowery subway station in New York feels almost… rebellious.
Peeling walls. Old payphones. The thunder of simulated trains. In his very first Métiers d’Art collection as creative director, Matthieu Blazy shoved Parisian luxury straight into the grit of urban commuting—and somehow made it work.
Let’s be honest: ten years ago, Karl Lagerfeld would probably have gilded the entire station. After all, the “Paris–Dallas” collection featured cowboy hats encrusted with thousands of crystals. But Blazy isn’t interested in spectacle for spectacle’s sake. He’s chasing a real vibe. That’s been his signature since his days at Bottega Veneta—high fashion that doesn’t hover above life, but drops straight into it. Now, he’s bringing that philosophy into Chanel.
Models emerged from mock subway cars wearing tweed jackets with sneakers, feather-fringed dresses paired with biker boots. Rusted tracks behind them. Temporary benches in front. The visual of couture squeezing into rush hour was absurd, addictive, and unmistakably Blazy—his favorite trick: letting art and daily life coexist without apology.
The most talked-about look? Lulu Tenney’s “denim” set. At first glance, it was a relaxed blue shirt and straight-leg pants—so convincing that my first thought was, Wait… Chanel Métiers d’Art is doing denim now? Except it wasn’t denim at all. The fabric was silk slub cloth, hand-woven by Lesage.
Anyone familiar with Blazy knows this move well. He’s a master of material illusion. At BV, he used lambskin to mimic canvas and merino wool to recreate washed denim textures. This time, silk was engineered to hold the crisp structure of jeans. It’s his “less is more” philosophy in action—extraordinary craftsmanship hidden inside everyday visuals. Quiet. Confident. Powerful.
That tension—between appearance and reality—runs through the entire collection. Blazy never starts with clothes alone. He begins with people. Not garments in search of a wearer, but garments born for specific characters.
This approach hasn’t changed since his BV era, when Italian countryside women anchored entire collections. Now, the cast has shifted to New Yorkers: 1970s female photojournalists lugging cameras, 1980s Wall Street power women, present-day professionals clutching coffee cups as they race for the train.
There’s even a subtle tribute to Gabrielle Chanel’s close friend Diana Vreeland—former Harper’s Bazaar editor, Vogue creative director, and advisor to The Met’s Costume Institute. Once, Vreeland wore Chanel. Now, Chanel wears Vreeland.
Some looks leaned into near-superhero territory, reflecting Blazy’s raw, instinctive impressions of New York. Each outfit felt like it came with a backstory. Clothes weren’t standalone objects—they were extensions of personality.
To make these characters believable, Blazy pushed the artisans of le19M even further. This idea—craft in service of character—is one of his clearest design signatures. The embroiderers at Montex stitched lavish animal motifs across skirts, every stitch done by hand. One single skirt reportedly took over 30 hours to complete. At Lemarié, camellias and feather fringes demanded days of labor for just one petal.
And yet, Blazy deliberately attached all that craftsmanship to casual knit cardigans. It echoes his BV logic—like turning elaborate leather flower bouquets into everyday commuter bags. Pure pragmatism, rooted in his belief that fashion should serve life, not the other way around.
Compared with Lagerfeld-era Métiers d’Art, Blazy’s nerve is striking. Where “Paris–Byzantium” drowned silhouettes in mosaic glass beads, today’s Chanel woman wears hand-stitched boucle jackets that glide easily between evening heels and daytime denim in Soho.
Blazy dismantles the idea that Métiers d’Art exists only to be admired from afar. No sweeping trains, no floor-length gowns. Even voluminous skirts stop cleanly at the ankle. The message is crystal clear: haute craftsmanship is meant to be worn—daily.
And yes, let’s talk bags. A few are almost guaranteed future hits. First, the oversized shoulder bag—stripped of overt Chanel codes, leaving only the Double-C logo. Cool, restrained, quietly luxurious. New brand ambassador A$AP Rocky was already spotted wearing it straight from the runway, proving it’s as functional as it is stylish.
Then there are two double-chain bags designed for real life—instantly wearable, unmistakably Chanel in spirit, yet not obviously Chanel at first glance. They carry that long-term, investment-piece energy the brand does best.
So yes, you might still ask: Is this really Chanel Métiers d’Art? No gilded palaces. No unreachable fantasy. Just human warmth and city grit. Much like Gabrielle Chanel once used men’s underwear fabrics to liberate women from aristocratic dress codes, Blazy uses a subway station and his signature design language to collapse the distance between elite craftsmanship and everyday life.
That’s the brilliance of this show. It forces us to rethink what luxury should be: something sealed behind glass, or something that moves with us through the city? Blazy’s answer is unmistakable. When a Lesage-embroidered jacket belongs both at a dinner party and on the subway, when silk “denim” can elevate taste while surviving a workday commute—that is Métiers d’Art fulfilling Chanel’s original promise of freedom, comfort, and modernity for women.
