CHANEL didn’t just show a collection this season, it hijacked a New York subway platform and turned it into a love letter with attitude.
On the abandoned Bowery station, Matthieu Blazy delivered his first Métiers d’Art show with the confidence of someone who knows exactly what to do with an underground space: elevate it without erasing its grime. Models stepped out of an actual MTA train as if this were the most normal Tuesday commute, except their “metro looks” involved cheetah-tweed coats, liquid-fringe skirts and pearls that shimmered against tile walls older than most of the guests.
Blazy’s vision wasn’t nostalgia for Lagerfeld’s grandiose Métiers d’Art spectacles : no palaces, pyramids or Met-museum marble. Instead, he offered something sharper: couture that acknowledges the city’s pulse. Tweed jackets brushed past graffiti-echoing embroideries; classic cap-toe heels clicked across a platform better known for rats than runway regulars. And yet, nothing felt forced. The savoir-faire of CHANEL’s artisans, the embroiderers, feather masters, goldsmiths was everywhere, anchoring the urban edge with exquisite technique.
The crowd of 1,100 descended a hidden staircase as if entering a secret level of New York, one where Martin Scorsese, Tilda Swinton and A$AP Rocky casually shared a bench. There was no attempt to “glam up” the subway; the glamour came from contrast itself, sequins under harsh neon, couture silhouettes framed by iron beams. It was democratic, in the way only Blazy seems to pull off: couture that refuses to whisper from a pedestal.
