12 December 2024 |
Matthieu Blazy has just bagged the biggest gig in fashion.
This morning it was announced the French-Belgian designer will take the helm of Chanel as artistic director. His first collection is set to take place in October 2025. “I am thrilled and honoured to join the wonderful House of Chanel,” Blazy said in a statement. “I look forward to meeting all the teams and writing this new chapter together.”
Chanel has been without a designer since Virginie Viard left the house in June. Since, the maison’s atelier has produced three collections without an artistic director at the helm, including most recently a Métiers d’art show in Hangzhou, China on December 3.
Blazy is only the fourth designer to oversee the legendary fashion house, following in the footsteps of Viard, Karl Lagerfeld – who led Chanel for 36 extraordinary years – and Gabrielle Chanel herself.
The designer joins Chanel from Bottega Veneta, where over the last three years he has radically transformed the Milanese brand. Through his tenure – he was design director for ready-to-wear at Bottega Veneta before being promoted to creative director in 2021 following Daniel Lee’s departure – he consistently uplifted the craftspeople at the heart of the house. His collections centred around innovative leather work – creating everything from blue jeans to white tank tops from the buttery materiel – and he regularly collaborated lauded creatives like the illustrator Richard Scarry and late artist Gaetano Pesce.
Before arriving at Bottega Veneta, Blazy worked at Celine under Phoebe Philo, at Maison Margiela as part of an anonymous design collective that steered the house before John Galliano’s arrival in 2014, and as part of Raf Simons’ atelier at both Calvin Klein and Simons’ namesake label.
Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel fashion and Chanel SAS said, “I am delighted to welcome Matthieu Blazy. I am convinced that he will be able to play with the codes and heritage of the House, through an ongoing dialogue with the Studio, our Ateliers, and our Maisons d’art. His audacious personality, his innovative and powerful approach to Creation, as well as his dedication to craftsmanship and beautiful materials, will take Chanel in exciting new directions.”
Congratulations Matthieu! A new Chanel era awaits.
Photography by Willy Vanderperre.
