It was last July, eight months after he’d started at Chanel, that we first heard the news: Matthieu Blazy would be showing his Métiers d’art collection in New York on December 2. The excitement was real, even though we hadn’t yet seen his landmark first collection. His appointment brought a whole new energy to the historic house with its combination of haute craft and modern attitude, and now Blazy’s new Chanel energy was coming to my hometown.
The big question was, where would he show? I’d go to events and lunches where the speculation was fevered. It’s going to be uptown. It’s going to be downtown. The Met or the Guggenheim? What legendary places in New York are left that have not hosted a big event? Because when brands come to the city, you know that it’s for an iconic location, an iconic moment, or an ode to someone iconic to New York. Wherever he chose, it would provide another indicator of how Blazy sees Chanel and where he is taking this historic house.
I don’t know how Chanel kept their location so quiet. It wasn’t until two days before the show that they revealed it would take place on the subway. Specifically, at 168 Bowery, on the abandoned train platform at the Bowery stop.
By then, editors, influencers and celebrities were arriving from all over the world and events were in full swing. The night before the show – I call it the dress rehearsal – we went uptown for a cocktail and dinner at The Frick Collection, the art museum housed in the Gilded Age mansion that was established to house the collection of American industrialist Henry Clay Frick. I’ve been to events there before, where you just have dinner in the courtyard. But Chanel being Chanel (i.e. the kind of brand that has the power and imagination to curate rarefied and unforgettable experiences), the whole museum was opened up so you could walk around to look at the art. Pieces by Titian, Vermeer, Constable, Goya and Fragonard hang on its walls and it was simply incredible to have the place and these paintings to ourselves.
One thing Chanel can’t control, though, is the weather. The next day, the rain started, a biblical downpour that did not stop. The Bowery is famous for being the worst spot for traffic in the city. Add rain into the equation and you have a recipe for disaster. But Chanel is Chanel and the normal New York rules don’t apply. Just like the night before, when they opened The Frick for a private view, they pulled off the kind of power flex that only a global super-brand can muster: everyone was assigned a blacked-out SUV to take them to the Bowery. Chanel literally descended on downtown Manhattan, setting up a high-fashion blockade outside the venue. We passed through awnings where everyone queued up for security checks. Once through, we found ourselves in an abandoned subway station, with crowds pouring through the barriers as if it was rush hour – except everyone was wearing tweed jackets, two-tone shoes and carrying quilted bags.
It was a stroke of genius for Blazy to choose the subway for this Métiers d’art show, because all New Yorkers take the subway. It’s the one place that unites the whole city. Billionaires and normal people take the subway. It’s just an everyday thing for us, and Blazy understands this because he lived here while he was working for Calvin Klein. As he said before the show, “I was interested in the New York subway because I think it’s the one and only city of the world where all strata of society use it, and I think it’s a place that has no hierarchy.” As New Yorkers, we felt seen.
But not everyone attending the show had been on the subway. I saw someone, obviously a VIC (Very Important Client), walking down the stairs and overheard them say, “I cannot believe that Chanel literally built this set.” It wasn’t a set. This was a real station, although I have never seen a cleaner subway. There was not a single rat, and it definitely didn’t smell how it usually does. It smelt clean! Even the tracks were dry! And where were the wild people? Actually, they were there – the fashion kind, dressed head to toe in Chanel.
It was fun to see all these incredible people. Everywhere you turned, you’d see the likes of Kristen Stewart chatting to Tilda Swinton or Charlotte Casiraghi, Monaco royalty. And, in the mix, you had really good New Yorkers. Great people like Dapper Dan and Bowen Yang, who is such a big deal because SNL is so much a part of New York. I asked him what his favourite subway line is. Immediately, he knew, because he might be famous, but he still travels on the subway!
What’s my favourite subway line? The L train. I call it my New York Central Line. It just cuts across everything. There was a real camaraderie as we waited for the show to start, which isn’t normal for the subway. There was no one screaming, eating or sleeping.
Then a real train pulled into the station and the show started. Models tumbled out of the carriages dressed as New York archetypes from many different eras. The first girl out, Bhavitha Mandava, the first Indian model to open a Chanel show, was the image of an utterly contemporary NYU student in relaxed denim and undone hair. I loved seeing how casual Chanel can be now. But Blazy also paid tribute to fashion mavens like Diana Vreeland (a model strode by with a scarlet scarf tied around her hips, just as the legendary editor wore it) as well as all the uptown ladies who lunch in taxicab-yellow tweed skirt suits, downtown art girls all dressed in black, and even a tourist wearing a hand- sequinned version of the classic I ❤️ NY tee. Blazy is not afraid to be playful. I was gagging at the couture-level Christmas jumper embellished with Lesage embroidery. It was fun but also wildly extravagant.
All these New York references were cleverly layered and done with huge affection for the city and its characters. One model wore a suit emblazoned with portraits of her beloved canines (because New Yorkers love their dogs), another carried a coffee cup bag. Alex Consani got into character wearing a pinstripe ‘Godfather’ trouser suit that referenced New York’s cinematic history and several beaded gowns referenced Coco’s own brushes with Hollywood (in 1931, she costumed Tonight or Never starring Gloria Swanson, among other films).
The subway setting beautifully expressed the vibe of Blazy’s new Chanel. It’s not just for a certain time or place. The brand has always been timeless. A 16-year-old could carry a Chanel bag and an 80-year-old grande dame can have hers too. Its appeal is broad and he’s tapping into that, creating a Chanel that has many more access points. It feels younger and has a breezy, modern energy. I think his Chanel is more democratised. Not in terms of price and craft but style. Even the shoulders are a little more relaxed. I think he chose New York because it has that same vibe. It was a celebration of the city and its people and was such a joyful, uplifting moment for anyone who sat there and watched the show.
That mood was carried on to the afterparty, held at Webster Hall in the East Village. It’s such a stunning music venue, one where you usually get down and dirty. Honey Dijon DJ’d and Blazy was there, smoking outside with everyone and hanging out with his friends and team. They passed around the Chanel-branded pretzels, hot dogs and pizzas… you know, all the major New York food groups. The vibe was very uninhibited, very pre-camera phones, with everyone feeling sexy again. Mamdani had just won the election, we’d just seen a brilliant Chanel show and, that night, everyone was feeling hopeful.
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CHANEL METIERS D’ART: NATIVE NEW YORKER
Photographer COLIN LEAMAN
Fashion Editor NANCY KOTE
Text DORA FUNG
Model LINNA SHI at The Industry Model Management
Hair SHIN ARIMA at Home Agency using LIVING PROOF
Make-up REI TAJIMA at Bridge Artists using CHANEL Beauty
Fashion assistant JANE BICKFORD
Casting EVAGRIA SERG at DM Casting
Production GRACE BOYLE
Production assistants CASSIDY WINGATE and FRANCESCO BIANCO
Clothing and accessories throughout CHANEL Métiers d’art 2026 collection