Chanelised!
After missing the boat on the news and while I’m getting back from Saint-Tropez (on a train), I have decided to follow my father Gilles’s advice and talk to you about Matthieu Blazy debut with Chanel. I am no fashion critic, then I will leave it to each person to dissect the outfits and the trends from the show. What caught my eye, personally, was the balancing act perfectly executed by the newcomer. And God knows the exercise was “risky”, showing up after 5 tasteless years of Virginie Viard, and almost 40 years of the great Karl. Not to mention Gabrielle… before he even started, he already had one foot in the grave!
And yet… Matthieu did it; he rose up to the challenge of challenges. Dior, Bottega Veneta, okay… but Chanel, that’s really a whole different ballgame!
With respect and humbleness, he decided not “to kill the father” (all likeness with Victoire would of course be incidental). All the main defining elements of the company — the tweed, the chains, camellias, and even the Grand Palais — were all there. But it was like Matthieu went to find trinkets in the rue Cambon attic and that he had dusted, remodelled, reinvented them to make them free, expressive, modern, and — finally — in today’s life…
Because it’s really this, for me, the great success of the show: it was alive, in motion… It moved on the Chanel planet, it whirled harmoniously, in a chic way and without making a fuss about it. Sleeves were rolled up; skirts were light and slitted… even the famous padded handbag got shocked! And what a last silhouette, the grande finale… There’s joy, my friends, there’s joy!
“Honour the past, build the future”, this is what Matthieu Blazy offered at Chanel. And, to me, it is without a doubt the best step to take…
Have a nice weekend,
Camille
There’s joy
