Under the vast glass dome of the Grand Palais, a black ribbon, monumental in scale, twists and curls through the air as part of an installation by Willo Perron. A key emblem of both Chanel’s aesthetic and technical codes, it sets the stage for the Fall/Winter 2025 show.
As the fashion world anticipates the arrival of Matthieu Blazy as creative director, the in-house Creation Studio takes centre stage, proving the unmistakable relevance of Gabrielle Chanel’s vision a century after its inception. With this collection, the house plays on proportions, deconstructs silhouettes, and compels us to revel in the beauty of illusion in all forms.
Here, size is a game, a theatre of trompe l’oeil. A cropped jacket in classic Chanel tweed is unexpectedly paired with floor-skimming trousers. At the same time, a crisp poplin shirt cascades to the ankles, transforming itself into something between dress and outerwear. Cape silhouettes end in tailored jacket cuffs, and the little black jacket—so quintessentially French and so quintessentially Chanel—elongates into a streamlined coatdress adorned with jewelled buttons.
Signatures of the house—bows, pearls, camellias—are exaggerated, layered, and reinterpreted with a boldness of spirit. Bows bloom across collars and cuffs, sprawl along dress hems, and dangle at the ankles of a shimmering black down jacket. Ribbons spiral around a sleek black sweater, knotting into an oversized shoulder bow, while voluminous cut-out bows add a sense of movement to cardigans and dresses. They also feature as a painterly motif print on three black dresses of varying heights. Heels become single pearls, while a cross-body bag mimics an exaggerated pearl necklace.
The art of layering is always at play in a Chanel collection, and this season is no different, demonstrating how clothing is only limited by our own imaginations. A three-piece grenadine tweed ensemble pairs a micro-jacket, a wrap skirt, and wide-leg trousers lined in red silk. Elsewhere, an ivory slit skirt peeks from beneath a gilet, styled with a miniskirt for an unexpected element of proportion. Diaphanous black tulle capes adorning looks soften the sharp lines of champagne, black, and white tweed suits, adding an ethereal transparency that blurs the boundaries between garment and skin.
Chanel’s innate sense of strength in femininity is celebrated in poetic touches—jeans made of delicate chiffon, silks that mirror the structure of tweed, and black organza parkas adorned with whimsical bows. Victorian-style sock-ankle boots and satin bouillonné shoes ground the collection in quiet opulence of another time, along with ruff collars, black wool lace coats that shimmer with inlaid faux fur, and white 3D petal plastrons.
With its playful surrealism and deeply considered balance of heritage and innovation, Chanel’s studio team reaffirm the core DNA of the maison with a Fall/Winter 2025 collection that is soaked in reverie and anticipation.
This story first appeared on GRAZIA International.
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