PARIS - Franco-Belgian designer Matthieu Blazy is set to make his debut in one of the most coveted jobs in the fashion industry on Monday when he sends out models for Chanel for the first time.
The 41-year-old, who was appointed last December, will unveil his Spring/Summer 2026 collection at Paris Fashion Week in the clear highlight of the season, if not the year.
Tasked with moving Chanel on from the era of its legendary late supremo Karl Lagerfeld, Blazy is seen as needing to tread a delicate path between modernising Chanel while respecting its heritage.
"If there's one house where the traditions are more important than anywhere else, it's Chanel," Elvire von Bardeleben, a fashion journalist at France's Le Monde newspaper told AFP.
"What's expected of Matthieu Blazy is to bring back style, elegance, a twist to traditions that have been overexploited recently," she continued.
Fashion lovers have had to wait for the penultimate day of what has been a historic Paris Fashion Week to glimpse the latest creations from the former Bottega Veneta and Calvin Klein designer.
Chanel, the world's second biggest luxury brand by sales, reported a 30 percent drop in operating profit in 2024 to $4.48 billion, compared to the year before, as revenue fell 4.3 percent over the same period.
Monday's show will take place under the domed glass ceiling of the spectacular Grand Palais exhibition space near the Champs-Élysées, a favourite spot for the brand.
Blazy has given almost nothing away, except for a few outfits revealed on the red carpets of recent film and TV events.
The invitation, featuring a Chanel house-shaped pendant, was very classic, while a black-and-white photo posted on Instagram about the collection featured a short-bobbed brunette reminiscent of the brand's founder Coco Chanel.
"At Chanel, there are totems you don't touch," Pierre Groppo, fashion editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair magazine in France, told AFP. "But you can reinvent them."
Blazy is only the fourth creative director in Chanel's history after Coco, Lagerfeld and his immediate predecessor, Virginie Viard.