Chanel bids farewell with a harvest-inspired couture show before Blazy takes over

“Fashion passes; style remains,” said Gabrielle Chanel.

It’s clear that this haute couture collection embodied its founder’s ethos, presenting a subdued collection in pared-back, earthy tones.

It was the last to be designed by the Chanel Design Studio, which worked with Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard – Chanel’s former creative directors.

In October, the fashion house will begin a new cycle, when its new creative director Matthieu Blazy will debut his collection in Paris at spring/summer 2026 Fashion Week.

For the show, pieces were set against a backdrop inspired by the original haute couture salons where Gabrielle Chanel first championed pared-back elegance, the collection unfolded in a palette of earthy neutrals – ecru, ivory, moss green, chocolate brown and inky black.

When Chanel first launched her designs in 1910, they were shockingly avant-garde, dressing women in wide-leg trousers, cardigan jackets, striped Breton tops, turbans and turtlenecks. It was, at the time, outrageous.

Today however, Chanel is considered to be the most timeless – and perhaps the ‘safest’ – of heritage labels.

The Chanel tweed suit isn’t the easiest canon to work in – it can so easily go lumpy and stodgy. This collection neatly avoided the problem, adding fringe, fluffy feathers, tassels and rich layering.

Longer skirts and dresses flowed elegantly over knee-high boots, while leather textures brought an edge to the otherwise calm collection.

The show was a quiet farewell from the silent studio that have been the brains behind the last three collections, while at the same time, it was a look at the label’s exciting future.

All eyes now turn to Matthieu Blazy, who will inherit the house’s storied codes and bring them into a new chapter for a budding spring collection.