START SPREADING THE NEWS: Chanel is returning to the New York runway for the first time in seven years.
The French fashion house will present its first Métiers d’Art collection designed by Matthieu Blazy on Dec. 2, it said on Thursday. The exact location will be disclosed at a later date. Chanel underlined its historic links with the U.S., dating back to founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s first trips across the Atlantic in the 1930s.
“I am delighted that Matthieu Blazy has chosen New York for his first Métiers d’Art show,” Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion and president of Chanel SAS, said in a statement. “He will make the creative energy of the city he knows so well resonate with the exceptional savoir-faire of the house.”
From 2016 to 2019, Blazy was part of the Calvin Klein team that Raf Simons brought to New York, working on the men’s and women’s collections as design director.
He will make his official debut for Chanel during the spring ready-to-wear shows in Paris in October, marking the end of an unusually long handover period following the departure last year of Virginie Viard.
Former creative director Karl Lagerfeld staged the “Paris-New York” Métiers d’Art show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in December 2018, two months before his death. Shown in front of the Temple of Dendur, the collection drew inspiration from Ancient Egypt.
“It was Karl’s last show, so we always get a little nostalgic when we talk about it in-house. But going back to New York with Matthieu and the beginning of a new season is super exciting,” Pavlovsky told WWD.
“He’s very enthusiastic about showing in New York. It’s a city he knows well, where he’s lived and worked,” the executive added. “New York is always a bold choice, because it’s one of the most important cities for us in terms of image and business. Following Matthieu to New York will be full of surprises for everyone.”
In tandem with the announcement, Chanel released the first visual teaser of Blazy’s tenure: a vintage New York subway map with a double-C logo superimposed.
The brand has presented the Métiers d’Art line, timed around the pre-fall season, in cities as far-flung as Tokyo; New York; Rome; Edinburgh, Scotland; Salzburg, Austria, and Dallas. For the last three editions, it explored cities off the beaten luxury track with shows in Hangzhou, China; Manchester, England; and Dakar, Senegal.
The Métiers d’Art collections celebrate the capabilities of the specialty ateliers Chanel has acquired through its Paraffection subsidiary. Several of them are now grouped at Le19M, a striking building designed by architect Rudy Ricciotti and located near Porte d’Aubervilliers, a working-class area north of Paris.
Le19M brings together embroiderer and tweed-maker Lesage, its embroidery school and Lesage Intérieurs; embroidery workshop Montex and its decoration department MTX; shoemaker Massaro; feather- and flower-maker Lemarié; milliner Maison Michel; pleater Lognon; grand flou atelier Paloma, and goldsmith Goossens.
