Things We Loved About The Chanel Spring Summer 2026 Collection

Welp. Matthieu Blazy’s first collection for Chanel is finally here. In a season noted everywhere as the “great reset” for the fashion industry - owing to the unprecedented number of new creative directors (or more accurately, mostly a reshuffling of familiar faces) - Blazy’s debut was arguably the most anticipated.

This is possibly because most people, even industry insiders, are familiar with only one Chanel - mostly Karl Lagerfeld’s version. Of course, former creative director Virginie Viard’s contributions can’t and should not be overlooked. After all, she served as Lagerfeld’s second-in-command (he famously called Viard his left and right arm) for over 30 years, but Viard’s Chanel was often seen as a more down-to-earth extension to Lagerfeld’s tenure.

Blazy is only the fourth creative director of the house despite its rich, 100+ years of history and while most creative directors tend to pay homage to a brand’s codes with their first collections, the 41-year-old Belgian took a different route. He went straight back to the woman who started it all, and staged an imaginary conversation with her to realise his collection.

Here, a closer look at how that conversation unfolded:

THERE’S A NEWFOUND SENSE OF EASE

The biggest takeaway, for this writer at least, was how Blazy referenced Chanel - not the mega luxury brand - but founder Gabrielle Chanel herself. At first glance, his designs were admittedly a shock to the system; his collection was evidently very different from Lagerfeld or Viard’s Chanel.

But before Chanel became the last word in elegance, we’d all do well to remember that she was also known for taking risks (for instance, cementing the little black dress as chic everyday attire, breaking the norm that black clothing was only for mourning) and for prioritising the comfort and ease of movement for those who wore her clothes. That’s the spirit Blazy sought to channel here - see the explosive ballgown skirts paired with a simple satin T-shirt, for example, or the silky, slightly oversized sweatshirts worn with sarong skirts.

BLAZY CONTINUES CHANEL’S LOVE OF MENSWEAR

It was telling that the opening looks were heavily borrowed from menswear - quite literally. According to an interview with Business of Fashion, Blazy took off his own jacket and hacked it to Chanel’s proportions, and it became the nifty cropped jacket of Look 1 (pictured in the middle). Very desirable.

In doing so, Blazy continued Chanel’s famous tradition of infusing menswear-inspired elements into her own designs. Indeed, as the press notes point out, Gabrielle Chanel frequently wore her lover Boy Capel’s shirts. His were made by the legendary French shirtmaker Charvet; Blazy’s version, which appeared three times throughout the collection, is a collaboration between the shirtmaker and Chanel.

Something you might not see from the runway images: each of these shirts come weighted by a Chanel chain so that they hang well and drape nicely on the body.

BLAZY-FYING THE ICONS!

No, that’s not a mangled Chanel 2.55 bag (the horror!). Blazy has long been noted for his innovative propositions - remember the viral Sardine bag from his Bottega Veneta days? Here, he’s applied that wonderful kookiness to arguably the maison’s most sacred bag, the 2.55 - he’s inserted malleable wire into the flap, so that you can mold it to almost any shape and make it look as if the bag’s been through a lifetime’s worth of use.

As he told Business of Fashion: “I didn’t know what to do with it. I started to play with it, change the chain, embroider, change the leather. It didn’t work... And suddenly I thought, how can we take this bag, not just explode it, but almost make it like it’s been borrowed from your great-grandmother, and then passed through generations, and you went to a party in the Lower East Side or in Paris at Pigalle — something lived, something cherished.”

MATERIAL SCIENCES

Tactility and fabrics have always been intrinsic to Chanel. Take how jersey, a humble cloth previously only for used men’s underwear, became her signature for chic dresses, suits, and sportswear, and indeed tweed, which was primarily for outdoor use in Scotland and England (due to its durability and weather-resistant properties) until Chanel softened it, added lining, and tailored it for women. The result? A utilitarian, rugged material turned the cornerstone of her trademark suits.

Blazy had already gained a following for his wacky leather experiments previously at Bottega Veneta - who can forget the seemingly ordinary white tank top of his first collection for the Italian house that turned out to be leather? Here at Chanel, we’re seeing some funky materials come to life under his vision - think crocheted tweed, embroidery resembling wheat, caviar-esque beading, explosion of feathers inspired by Flemish paintings, and more.

A STELLAR ACCESSORIES GAME

Every season, Chanel has one or two novelty bags that define the collection - for Spring Summer 2026, it’s obviously going to be this adorable globe-shaped minaudiere that’s been flooding our feeds.

The globe purse ties in nicely with the underlying message of the collection (just see that staggering runway set with various planetary bodies in orbit) - that Chanel effectively has global appeal. What next? To the stars? Blazy is a designer who dares to dream big, so why not?

And can we say, we love that he’s also appearing to have fun while doing so? We know we’re going to be looking out for that chick earring (pictured on right) when it hits stores next spring!