In Biarritz, Chanel Shines Brighter Than the Sun

Reported by Harper's Bazaar.

Matthieu Blazy took Chanel's resort show to Biarritz—the Atlantic seaside town where Gabrielle Chanel opened her first salon in 1915—and made it feel like a homecoming. Held in the municipal casino overlooking the ocean, with mirrored walls and gilded Baroque chairs reimagining Mlle. Chanel's original salon, the presentation brought together an eclectic crowd: Michaela Coel, Nicole Kidman, A$AP Rocky, Tilda Swinton. Five seasons into his role, Blazy was finally debuting his interpretation of Chanel's resort offering, and he did it by excavating the woman behind the house—not the icon, but the person who kicked off her heels to walk the beach, who danced al fresco, who swam and hiked and collected inspiration from local sailors and artists.

The clothes reflected that philosophy without veering into nostalgia trap territory. Blazy opened with a reimagined Little Black Dress—Chanel's revolutionary 1926 silhouette that hits its centenary this year. Here's where his archival deep-dive paid off: the original actually had a bow at the back, something fashion history had quietly forgotten. Rather than paste it back on, Blazy transmuted it into a clutch, its ribbons trailing elegantly as the model walked in silver-interlocked-C loafers. It's the kind of clever restraint that separates real designing from costume work.

The Logo Question

This was Blazy's first collection to seriously engage with the double C monogram—and according to Harper's Bazaar, he brought the same intelligence to branding. A brown shirt threaded the interlocked Cs into white piping at the neckline. A billowy off-shoulder dress featured barely-visible Cs cascading around the bodice and arms. Geometric foulards wove the logo into their colorblocking. "I used to work at Bottega," Blazy laughed backstage. "No logo. I got familiar with the idea of a logo here, and I love a logo. This one is beautiful… thank god." The move wasn't about screaming ownership—it was about bridging Mlle. Chanel's 1926 beach town to contemporary Chanel, a house people want to touch and be seen in.

Alongside the restraint came pure joy. A glittering tangerine skirt suit lived next to sequined mermaid gowns. Bubble-gum workwear—a nod to Chanel's own unfussy corduroy-and-cotton resort dressing—appeared alongside bathing caps paired with thigh-high waders. There were waterproof flap bags, Charvet shorts, and those half-shoes (call them "sheels") that covered only the heel and tied at the ankle, carried by a model in colorful pony-hair pumps. The soundtrack lurched from ocean waves to whale songs to Tino Rossi to Kylie Minogue to a DiCaprio monologue from The Beach—a deliberate collision of high and low, precise and off-beat. And the casting remained fearlessly diverse, with pregnant model Kaya Wikins walking alongside her peers.

Blazy's Chanel doesn't pretend luxury and playfulness are opposites; it proves they're the same impulse.

Read the original at Harper's Bazaar.