If a Chanel collection usually warrants a second look, a Chanel Métiers d’Art collection deserves a third or a fourth. That is because the latter spotlights the depth and scope of craftsmanship that is possible at Le19M, Chanel’s creativity hub in Paris. A single Métiers d’Art collection features contributions from the 11 storied maisons housed at Le19M, with more than 700 skilled artisans between them.
Chanel’s Métiers d’Art 2025 collection is no exception. The collection was presented last December at a fashion show on the West Lake in Hangzhou. That scenic landscape is one that Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was familiar with—not because the French couturier had travelled to China herself, but because the West Lake was depicted on one of her beloved Coromandel screens that furnished her Rue Cambon apartment.
The collection bore traces of those antique lacquered screens. For example, the tweed jacket of look 28 came in black and gold, as a nod to the deep hues of Coco Chanel’s screens. The jacket is trimmed with braids by the French embroidery specialist Atelier Montex. The braids are adorned with small, bejewelled flowers, and altogether took 110 hours to craft using the needle, the Luneville hook (a tool often used in haute couture), and phosphorescent thread.
Atelier Montex also created the embroidery of birds and flowers—motifs commonly found on Coromandel screens—that are seen on the knitwear pieces in looks 15 and 17. Elsewhere, flowers bloomed across the collection in the form of sequin embroidery by Lesage. The 101-year-old atelier drew upon the rich colours of Coromandel screens to create the collection’s ribbon tweeds, including the one used to craft the jacket and skirt of look 26.
These looks are topped with fedora hats created by Maison Michel. The French hatter and milliner, which was founded in 1936, produces its exquisite hats and head accessories entirely by hand. The process includes hammering, sewing, cutting and shaping hats to precision on wooden forms. Over the decades, Maison Michel has amassed more than 3,000 wooden forms in its archives, allowing it to create a myriad of hat styles.
Hats are significant to the house of Chanel, and not merely because its founder wore them frequently. Before becoming a fashion designer, Coco Chanel worked as a milliner. Her successor, Karl Lagerfeld, tapped on Maison Michel to create hats for Chanel in 1983, and the two houses have been collaborating ever since. Most recently, Maison Michel created the boater hat worn by Blackpink’s Jennie at the 2025 Met Gala.
For Chanel’s Métiers d’Art 2025 collection, the milliner crafted narrow-brimmed hats in felt and leather. The classic designs, which come in beige and black, complete looks that are inspired by the practical ensembles worn by travellers in the 1930s. If Coco Chanel had made the journey to China during her lifetime, she would have donned these looks herself—along with a hat, of course.
Ahead, take a closer look at the backstage moments and the savoir-faire of Chanel’s Métiers d’Art 2025 collection through exclusive photos.
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