The Fall/Winter 2026 edition of Paris Haute Couture Week is off to a flying start. At Schiaparelli, Daniel Roseberry constructed a surreal daydream of a collection in silicone and rubber, while Dior’s Jonathan Anderson took an intricate, pleated route through a runway covered with tropical ferns. As the second day of fashion’s most rarefied showcase approaches, all eyes turn to the undisputed haute couture heavyweight: Chanel.
As the oldest Haute Couture atelier still in operation, Chanel is almost synonymous with the art form’s intricate and elevated craftsmanship. The maison operates multiple dedicated couture ateliers out of its 31 Rue Cambon workshops, each assigned to a particular speciality, be it tailoring, flou, or braiding. Blazy is no stranger to harnessing this exceptional savoir-faire to flesh out his creative vision, from a lauded Métiers d’Arts collection staged in the New York subway last December to January’s feather-light Haute Couture collection presented in Paris.
As his sophomore couture collection draws nearer, Blazy is building upon a solid creative foundation at Chanel. Like many creative directors in fashion’s great reset, the Belgian designer was tasked with revitalising the brand’s future while still adhering to a weighty legacy of style codes—in that respect, his tenure at the maison has been a flourishing success.
His debut Haute Couture collection blended a whimsical woodland setting with a delicate approach to design. Gauzy mousseline and barely-there silk were the collection’s mainstays, with solidity added through intricate feathered cuffs and boas. The teasers for this season’s couture showing hint at a similarly fantastical backdrop. The video depicts a young girl caught up in a fairytale à la Jack and the Beanstalk—with magic beans blossoming into vibrant ferns and flowers that snake through a Paris apartment.
It remains to be seen how these influences translate into a couture collection. Tune in at 8 pm (SGT) on Tuesday, 7 July to see Matthieu Blazy’s vision for Chanel Haute Couture, live from Paris.
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