Bird on a mushroom

I saw the beauty at once

Then gone, flown away

(Anonymous haiku)

Haute couture does not exist to solve the everyday. It exists to remind us why fashion is capable of moving something deeper—of touching sensitive fibers. Yes, it’s true: couture is that space where everything is possible—volume, structure, texture, excess. But within this maximalist wave, which at times falls back on repetitive formulas, it feels profoundly fresh and forward-thinking to see how Matthieu Blazy has not only revealed himself through his recent work, but has also stripped the house bare, layer by layer. This time, he went straight to the core—and it is precisely there that the beauty of his creative direction resides.

A collection that speaks about freedom. Matthieu Blazy’s first collection for Chanel Couture Spring 2026 arrives after an exploration of the universe and places us now in a more tactile and essential realm—the Funji realm—built on texture, proportion, and familiar codes. This is not about turning tweed into an easy solution, but about dismantling it: allowing it to converse with materials as delicate as silk. A poetic fashion show, the kind we are no longer accustomed to seeing this season.

We live so focused on generalities, on constant overstimulation, that we forget about details. This collection—and Matthieu’s work as a whole—has been precisely that: an invitation to observe, to appreciate.

A delicately embroidered love letter; a bottle of N°5; a red lipstick… symbols and emotional artifacts that emerge in silk muslin or transform into jewelry.

METAMORPHOSIS. A process of deep transformation: not merely a superficial change of form, but an internal evolution that alters essence, meaning, and identity. The women in the collection begin to transform into birds—not as a literal costume, but as a symbolic evolution. The bird appears as an emblem of freedom, lightness, and autonomy. The garments accompany this process, becoming ethereal, mobile, alive.

“Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury.”

— Gabrielle Chanel

There is a growing wave of voices claiming that what Blazy is doing is not Chanel. But if the silhouettes and recent collections have been about anything, it is about emotion, about dressing and redefining the contemporary woman. Which makes me wonder: why do people resist change so fiercely? Isn’t that what humanity is about—changing, evolving, creating new stories?

Undergoing metamorphosis.