Chanel Underground - Matthieu Blazy's Second Act
Matthieu Blazy brings Métiers d’Art to the subway — democratizing couture and making the elegant woman feel cool again.
If you’ve been here a while, you know I have a soft spot for Matthieu Blazy. Last time we talked about Chanel, I said his superpower was humanity — the (rare) ability to design clothes that feel emotional without sacrificing wearability.
This week, Chanel brought Métiers d’Art to New York, and Blazy brought that same humanity underground. Métiers d’Art (translates to “arts and crafts”) is an annual event launched by the late Karl Lagerfeld in 2002 and exists to honor the specialist ateliers whose work defines the house.
The show took place in the old, deserted Bowery subway station and felt like a love letter to the artisans and to the city that never stops.
Blazy explained his choice perfectly: “We all take the Metro. It’s chaotic, it’s a mess… it erases social classes… it belongs to all of us.”
And that was the show — Chanel in the wild, not on a sanitized runway, but in the place where New Yorkers actually live their lives: running late, holding coffee, dodging teenagers with AirPods.
Models stepped off a train like passengers returning from some glamorous alternate reality. The columns, the fluorescent lighting, the payphone — all of it became part of the storytelling. It made couture feel democratic for a moment, which is hilarious if you know Chanel prices, but also strangely… moving?
This Métiers d’Art wasn’t Chanel pretending to understand New York; it actually felt like the city. Cacophony of style and energy — messy, nostalgic, full of characters from every decade. From a downtown girl in a half-zip and jeans (hi, Bhavitha Mandava) to the Coco-era suit and tweed jacket reworked for now.
Wearable storytelling (his words, not mine)
One of Blazy’s quotes from this collection stayed with me:
“I was interested in the artifice — to explode the silhouette and technique, but… when you decompose the silhouette you still have something quite wearable.”
This is the piece he’s taking for the win — proving you can have fantasy (embroidery, tweed wizardry, hours of handwork) in clothes that survive a full day in New York and still work for cocktails.
The bags everyone screenshot
Let’s talk about the bags, because this collection gave us a zoo: the giraffe, the squirrel, the apple, and the coffee cup.
The giraffe references Madagascar — a creature lost in the New York subway system — which I find so charming. I appreciate that kind of humor much more than the obvious nods like the apple or the coffee cup (that’s not to say I wouldn’t die to get my hands on either).
The squirrel was the real surprise — influencers would not stop talking about it. Its tail is fur that climbs up the leather strap… This is a crazy collector’s piece. A true object of delight.
Chanel didn’t publish retail prices (and might not). But given the house’s recent price trajectory and the handcrafted nature of Métiers d’Art pieces, you’re easily looking at $10K–$15K if they ever hit boutiques at all.
Meanwhile, I’m over here quietly adding the skyscraper skirt to a wishlist I have no business maintaining. It’s entirely beaded. Ah, a girl can dream.
Legacy in motion: Chanel but make it cool again
What makes this show more than a spectacle is the way Blazy speaks to Gabrielle Chanel: “I wanted to almost take revenge for Gabrielle Chanel and look at fashion through cinematographic imagery… even when costumes depict reality, they’re always slightly exaggerated so they can be remembered.”
This idea, the pairing of exaggeration and wearability, feels central to how Blazy is shaping Chanel right now. I love how these two seemingly opposite qualities coexist so easily in his world. You either remember the ease of the jean and half-zip, or the extravaganza of the color and texture. Both leave an impression; they just land differently.
Haute Couture is next, and fashion people are already vibrating with anticipation. If Act One was emotion and Act Two is chaos, I can’t wait to see where Blazy takes the story next.