From Leopard Prints to Pinstripes: Chanel’s Métiers d’Art 2026
All photos courtesy CHANEL
A green leopard‑patterned tulip skirt opens the collection, its petals fringed by hand over several days by the artisans at Maison Lesage. It sets a tone of audacious detail and playful drama. Nearby, an oversized pinstripe suit balances authority with ease, boxy tailoring accented by the weight of a subtle Chanel chain. Feathered gowns from Maison Lemarié trail behind their wearers, while denim — transformed into “lingerie denim” — carries delicate embroidered motifs from Maison Montex, their shimmer catching the platform lights. Every surface, every seam, speaks of careful, patient craftsmanship.
Blazy’s debut Métiers d’Art show took place on a decommissioned subway platform in Manhattan’s Bowery station, a deliberate choice that echoes a lesser-known moment in Chanel history. In 1931, Gabrielle Chanel walked through downtown New York and saw women interpreting her designs in ways she had never imagined, a democratic celebration of style. As Blazy explains, the subway is “full of enigmatic yet wonderful encounters…each unique in what they wear.” That ethos — of individual flair meeting exceptional craft — runs through the collection.
Artisanal skill is everywhere. An archival Art Deco dress is reworked with Lemarié feathers and Lesage embroidery. Tweeds are hand-woven, layered with texture and weight. Silk linings feature hand-painted New York scenes, including Coco Chanel walking her dog against the skyline. Maison Goossens’ jewelry ranges from Deco-inspired hummingbirds to glinting glass cabochons, while Maison Massaro’s slingbacks are offered both in classic kidskin and in shearling spotted for contemporary flair. Minaudières, meanwhile, reveal playful secrets: enamelled apples, monkey nuts, and oysters concealing pearls — small luxuries that surprise and delight.
The collection traverses decades and attitudes, from Art Deco refinement to 1980s power dressing, from streetwise downtown chic to contemporary interpretations of classic codes. The subway platform becomes a stage where these references converge, a theatre of movement, gesture, and unexpected juxtapositions. It is a world in which couture is not distant but lived, where craft elevates everyday forms into moments of wonder.
In Blazy’s hands, Chanel feels both familiar and refreshed: anchored in the meticulous work of the Maisons d’art, yet energized by the cinematic energy of New York and the legacy of a founder who understood that elegance could be democratic. The tulip skirt, the pinstripe suit, the feathered gowns — each piece invites the eye and the imagination, a reminder that luxury thrives not only in opulence but in precision, care, and playful attention to detail.
