Chanel’s annual Métiers d’Art show is basically the couture equivalent of a designer’s mind, and this was the first for Matthieu Blazy’s. A celebration for all the brand’s ateliers, embroidery, feather, millinery, you name it, showing off their French craftsmanship in one big runway moment, this time at 168 Bowery.
It all started with a short film directed by Michel Gondry, and A$AP Rocky proposing to Margaret Qually outside of a NYC subway stop, what’s wrong with the Louvre? Nothing, the whole show was “a love story between Chanel and New York” where Blazy “brought to life singular personalities, crossing paths in the New York subway. Seen through a filmic lens, they are the heroines of their own stories”, as the house of Chanel stated. Cheers to the late Karl Lagerfeld and his supermarkets, the brand’s favorite people have always known how to stage contrast. “We all take the Metro. It’s chaotic, it’s a mess. People are there creating a pop culture clash. It’s very egalitarian. It erases social classes, you have the decision maker, you have the student, the mum on the run… it belongs to all of us.” Blazy told BoF, what a mood for NYC’s underground, honestly.
Guests passed through NYC subway-style security, greeted by the brand’s custom “La Gazette” newspapers packed with Blazy’s interviews and the artisans’ profiles. Slowly the front row filled with the short film duo, Anna Wintour, Linda Evangelista, Jon Bon Jovi, Dapper Dan, Martin Scorsese, Teyana Taylor, Emily Ratajkowski, and leading creatives from a variety of fields taking their seats.
The show kicked off with part of the models walking down the station’s stairs and part coming out of the incoming train. Opening was Bhavitha Mandava, a girl literally scouted in the NYC subway for Matthieu Blazy’s last Bottega Veneta show, the fullest of full circles. The collection pulled inspiration from both past and current century, featuring everything from heritage tweed jackets, to 80’s power suits, to 20’s hairstyles, to American streetwear, to vibrant animal prints, all woven together with the house’s history and a future yet to be written. The runway was full of “hidden” gems with refrences to Diana Vreenland’s drama, Jacky Kennedy’s NYC hustle, Audrey Hepburn’s chic, Frank Sinatra’s city love, Andy Warhol’s wig, the Big Apple, the town’s skyline, tourist’s ‘I love NY” obsession, even Superman swooped in.
“When [Chanel] went back to New York, she went downtown and saw women who were not from the higher class who had adopted the Chanel style — it was not Chanel, but it looked like Chanel. When she returned to Paris, suddenly she had energy again and continued to design,” Blazy told WWD after the closing. So yes, this collection shouted love for NYC and Chanel’s legacy, all the craft and tradition still intact, don’t mind the models bumping into one another, that was just the Bowery stop’s energy. But Blazy added that twist, making it feel alive, modern, and totally ready for today’s new generation.
