Chanel's fall couture blends fairytale whimsy with workwear tailoring

Chanel’s fall couture show unfolded on July 7, 2026, inside the Grand Palais, where Matthieu Blazy staged his second haute couture collection for the house as part of Paris Haute Couture Week. The opening looks made the point quickly: beneath the fairytale set, Blazy was really rewriting Chanel’s tailoring codes, using an oversized beaded tweed trompe l’oeil set to push the suit language into sharper, more contemporary territory.

Chanel set the season’s tone with the line, “Day and night, simplicity and iridescence,” and framed the collection as an ongoing conversation between Gabrielle Chanel and Matthieu Blazy. That conversation ran through the fabrics. Chanel suits appeared in guipure and light silk mousseline, while tweed came in red, black, cream, gray and gold, sometimes blown up in proportion, sometimes sleeveless, slashed or softened into cardigan-like shapes. The result kept Chanel’s discipline intact while loosening the silhouette just enough to feel current, as if boardroom polish had been caught in the act of daydreaming.

Blazy’s references reached straight into Gabrielle Chanel’s personal library, including Les Fées, Contes des Contes, and the first model carried a copy from her apartment onto the runway. The set echoed that idea of a private fantasy made public: giant vines climbed through the Grand Palais, oversized flowers crowded the space and the garden-like scene turned almost toxic in its excess. One review called the collection Gaby and the Beanstalk, and the title fit the mood well enough. Feathers, flowers, concealed charms and ornate shoes gave the clothes their storybook sheen, but the most convincing details were the practical ones, from pockets to frayed edges, which kept the clothes from drifting too far into costume.

The front row underlined how closely this debut was being watched. Pedro Pascal, Tilda Swinton, Lupita Nyong’o, Catherine Deneuve, Alexa Demie, Teyana Taylor, Margot Robbie, Jennie, Kylie Minogue, Olivia Dean and Oprah all took in the show, a cast that matched the collection’s range from couture fantasy to modern celebrity wardrobing. Chanel said the collection would reach boutiques from September 2026, and Blazy’s first real move on the house suggests a luxury uniform with more wit, more surface play and a much sharper shoulder than the old fantasy would suggest.