Photo: Chantal Fernandez/Chantal Fernandez

Chanel has staged its annual Métiers d’Art show at a landmark French chateau, an 18th-century schloss in Salzburg, and a historic courthouse in Dakar. But for its latest presentation, held Tuesday in New York City, Chanel picked a location that has seen more rats than aristocrats: a subway station beneath Bowery on the Lower East Side.

Instead of graffiti or smelly trash bins, the decommissioned station was given a fresh coat of burnt orange paint and lit with warm LED lights. Chanel set up a quaint newsstand and vintage turnstiles. Guests sat on rows of replicas of classic subway benches, painted in matching orange. The models arrived by train, of course, and emerged from each of the cars before weaving up and down the platform as if they were regular commuters, pausing to check for oncoming trains. The soundtrack included sounds of the city as well jazz, house music, the audio from the trailer of The Hours — “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself” — “Torn” by Natalie Ambruglia, and, for the grand finale, the theme song to Happy Days.

The brand’s annual Métiers d’Art show is a Karl Lagerfeld invention from the early 2000s that is unique to Chanel. Each December, the brand honors the small, artisanal French workshops that supply its feathers, embroideries, tweed, lace, and embroidered buttons by presenting a special collection that blends ready-to-wear and couture.

In the days leading up to the show, only the second from Chanel’s new creative director Matthieu Blazy, the exact location was a carefully guarded secret. Rumors about a subway set spread after the invitations arrived, each with a necklace featuring two tiny silver Chanel-branded subway cars, a vintage subway map poster of the city, and a “Chanel Gazette” newspaper where Blazy romantizes the subway as a place where students and world leaders sit side by side. Would any of them actually be wearing Chanel? Given the current absurdity of the prices — $7,000 for a bag, $2,000 for a pair of shoes, $22,000 for a jacket —that’s unlikely. But in Chanel’s universe, the subway is a cinematic fantasy, the place where Margaret Qualley and A$AP Rocky share a love story in a new short film released by the brand ahead of the New York show.

For the occasion, Chanel flew in hundreds of clients to New York City and treated them to a slate of fancy pre-show events, including a cocktail party at The Frick and a private performance of The Nutcracker by the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center. “Can you believe that Chanel made a subway station?” said one client to another as they walked down to the platform, not realizing that the station was not just a set. (Tom Ford actually hosted a runway show there first, in 2019.)

“Is that what we’re doing, are we seeing it on a subway?” asked Christine Baranski after she arrived on the platform, taking a minute to understand her surroundings. “No wonder they gave me hand warmers.” She admitted she hadn’t been on the subway in “quite a while.” Her look, in debut Blazy Chanel white coat and wild camelia earrings framed by her brushed back bob, was an homage to Diana Vreeland.  “It’s a rainy day — having heavily sprayed hair that’s going to behave is a good idea.”

Chanel hosted its Metier show twice on Tuesday. Guests at the first included Chanel ambassadors Tilda Swinton, Kristen Stewart, Charlotte Casiraghi, Qualley and A$AP Rocky; fashion folks such as Anna Wintour, Inez & Vinoodh, Danielle Goldberg and Elizabeth Saltzman; society doyenne Deeda Blair; and New York characters and celebrities that aren’t usually seen at such events, including Michael Stipe (“I’m friends with Matthieu,” he explained), Dr Orna Guralnik, Julio Torres, ​​and Rosie Perez. And also Jon Bon Jovi.

Perhaps the most unexpected guest was Bernie Wagenblast, one of the voices of the MTA’s announcements. “I was surprised to get the invitation,” she said before the show started. “Maybe I should make a special train announcement.” She usually shops at Land’s End and Chadwicks, but was wearing a white Chanel coat over a black turtleneck with the subway train necklace around her neck.

“I don’t get to come to many of these,” said Bowen Yang as Jenny Slate took her seat beside him. He’s a Blazy fan since his days at Bottega Veneta, as is Slate, who wore a tailored tweed jacket that made her feel like Katherine Hepburn. “I wish I had something original to say, but it’s absolutely perfect,” she said.

The last time Chanel staged a Métiers show in New York City, the venue was the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum, and the collection was, well, Egyptian-inspired. (Pharrell walked the show dressed as a modern pharaoh.) This time, Blazy avoided hammering the New York City theme, presenting instead a collection of city women that felt like a continuation of his debut in textures and silhouettes, but with special twists. One bag came with a coffee cup holder on the side, another featured an image of Coco Chanel walking her dog. Another model wore a suit in a Guy Fieri-esque flame print, another a floor-length black cape as if heading to the opera. (For more about the collection, stay tuned for Cathy Horyn’s review.)

“I was pleasantly surprised,” said model Linda Evangelista after the show. “It wasn’t cohesive like a show usually is… Everybody had their own look, their own personality. It was all the characters you would see if you went down in the subway —  and they had lots of money.”

Longtime Chanel client Amy Tsai and her daughter Vera Chu, in town from LA, arrived wearing head-to-toe double-C’s and matching Fall-Winter 2025 boots. “This is just whatever from her closet,” joked Chu, who wore a top from last year’s Métiers collection and a camelia from its 2023 show in LA. Blazy’s debut has turned off some diehard Chanel shoppers who bristled at the masculine, oversized silhouettes, deconstructed techniques, and accessories like the crushed flap bag. But Tsai, who has been collecting Chanel for 30 years, and Chu are fully on board. They pre-ordered several pieces from the spring collection, including the crushed flap bag. After the show, Tsai said her favorite pieces were the Superman shirt and everything leopard print. “I think it’s Chanel, but with a new touch,” she said, before joining the slog of people trying to make their way up the stairs. You’d almost think it was the usual rush hour crush. But upstairs, back on the street, the rainy intersection was clogged with black SUVs waiting to whisk each guest to their next destination.

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