Chanel Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture

The Chanel Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection, Matthieu Blazy's debut in the medium for the house, centered on a poetic exploration of lightness, metamorphosis, and the intimate bond between garment and wearer.

Inspired by a simple haiku Bird on a mushroom. I saw the beauty at once. Then gone, flown away. Blazy distilled the essence of Chanel into something ethereal and transient. The show notes framed haute couture as the very soul of Chanel, a shared canvas where the clothes become as much about the woman wearing them as the designer creating them, offering emotional resonance and freedom.

The collection unfolded in two poetic phases. It opened with transparency and second skin delicacy: classic Chanel suits reimagined in sheer silk mousseline, gauzes, tulle, and muslins in tender nudes, pinks, and pastels. These pared back pieces evoked memories of Gabrielle Chanel's own style masculine feminine duality, fundamental fabrics like tweed, jersey, and silk while revealing vulnerability and the wearer's inner life through opacity play and subtle weighting (pearls on hems, sheer "chains" on reinterpreted 2.55 bags).

Then came the transformation into birds, symbolizing ultimate freedom and the feminine spirit. Birds appeared in endless variety raven black structured looks showcasing masterful tailleur (tailoring) and flou (soft draping), pigeon gray petal details, pink spoonbill hues, heron linearity, and crested cockatoo exuberance. Feathers were conjured through embroidery, layering, pleating, weaving, and raw threads rather than literal plumage, creating illusions of flight on flapper-style dresses, suiting, and gowns. Mushroom motifs echoed the set (giant toadstools in pastel shades) via embroidered cardigans, nature-inspired heels, and gill like pleats, blending earthy whimsy with couture precision.

Blazy emphasized sensuality through touch and tactility fabrics that flutter, slide, and invite closeness while dialing down drama for wearability and joy. Exquisite craftsmanship shone in psychedelic embroideries, feather like details, and hidden personal tokens (lipstick jewels, perfume bottle accessories visible through transparency.

The result was a quietly powerful, breezy evolution of Chanel's codes: timeless elegance meets playful enchantment, where the woman herself becomes the story light, liberated, and in flight. Critics hailed it as one of the lightest couture shows ever, a dreamlike parenthesis of poetry amid everyday weight, reaffirming haute couture's role in offering beauty, transience, and emotional depth.