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Agence France-Presse

French luxury brand Chanel has opted for 40-year-old Matthieu Blazy as its new creative director instead of one of the industry’s established celebrity designers.
The Franco-Belgian Blazy may be low-key but is hardly an unknown, having headed Italian brand Bottega Veneta for the last three years and being long talked about within the industry as a future star.
Now, having beaten better known figures such as Hedi Slimane to the coveted vacancy, he is set to take over the world’s second-largest luxury clothing brand in a career-defining moment.
Said to have impressed with his in-depth presentations during the recruitment process, he embodies “a new generation with sincere humility”, Chanel fashion president Bruno Pavlovsky said of his nomination.

Along with his creativity, the compliment about Blazy’s character underlined another of his perceived qualities: the lack of a huge ego in an industry famed for them.
Serge Carreira, a fashion expert at Sciences Po university in Paris, said Chanel’s discreet family owners, Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, were looking for a loyal figure as only the fourth creative director in the brand’s fabled history.

“Chanel is a privately owned family house,” he said. “The brand can take a long-term approach and allow time for things.”
Handed the reins of Chanel with its nearly US$20 billion in annual sales, Blazy will be tasked with moving the brand on from a 40-year period defined by its legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld.
For the past five years, it has been directed by Virginie Viard, the late Lagerfeld’s hand-picked successor before his death in 2019, who has steadily grown sales.

Blazy has won widespread praise for his work at Bottega Veneta since 2021, helping modernise the look of the classic Italian leather-goods house, making it more playful and daring, while also expanding its product range.
He oversaw the launch of its first fragrances and high-end jewellery, and updated the brand’s classic intrecciato woven patterns with hit bags such as Kalimero, Andiamo and Sardine.
One of his first projects was designing a pair of US$7,000 jeans from leather printed with a denim pattern that makes them look like the cotton versions.

His shows at Milan Fashion Week attended by celebrities such as Julianne Moore and Jennifer Lawrence quickly became “a top highlight, consistently among the hottest tickets”, The Business of Fashion’s luxury editor Robert Williams said.
Chanel is a different scale, however, meaning that “the pressure to back up that creative edge with wearable designs is certainly a lot higher”, Williams said.
“The volume of products and collections that he will have to oversee, as well as the images going out the door, is much higher. But so are the resources. It’s a very powerful machine.”

A heavy smoker, often modestly dressed in just jeans and T-shirt, Blazy collects art and is close friends with Belgian fashion master Raf Simons, a mentor and former boss on two occasions.
He grew up in Paris with his art expert father and historian mother, along with a twin sister and brother.
“Tom Sawyer was my childhood hero,” he told The New York Times in an interview last year, referring to the free-spirited character of Mark Twain’s novel.

His own teenage rebelliousness led to him being sent to boarding schools in France and England.
Blazy studied fashion at La Cambre art school in Brussels and was hired after graduation by Simons, kick-starting a career that has seen him rapidly rise through major European and American labels.
He first came to public attention while designing as part of an anonymous collective that put together a collection for France’s Maison Margiela in 2014.
Iconic British fashion journalist Suzy Menkes was so impressed by his work using rare fabrics that she “outed” him in an article in Vogue, writing that “you can’t keep such a talent under wraps”.

That helped propel him further, leading to jobs at Celine as well as Calvin Klein, where he worked under Simons again, this time in New York.
Their two-year stint in the United States ended abruptly when they were fired in 2018, leaving Blazy standing in the street with a cardboard box containing his office possessions.
“It felt like a movie,” he told The New York Times.
The setback did nothing to slow his rise, with the latest step taking him to the pinnacle of the fashion world.


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Fashion

With Matthieu Blazy, a Raf Simons acolyte, as artistic director Chanel looks to the future

Creative director Matthieu Blazy accepts applause after the conclusion of the presentation of Bottega Veneta women’s autumn/wnter 2024-25 collection in Milan. He has been named artistic director of Chanel, a much bigger fashion house. Photo: AP

A model wears a creation from the Bottega Veneta women’s autumn/winter 2024-25 collection presented in Milan, Italy. Photo: AP

A model walks the runway during the Bottega Veneta womenswear spring/summer 2025 collection show at Milan Fashion Week in September 2024. Photo: AFP

Blazy will be tasked with moving Chanel on from a period defined by its designer Karl Lagerfeld (above, left). He takes over from Lagerfeld’s hand-picked successor as artistic director, Virginie Viard (above, right). Photo: AFP

Kendall Jenner attends the Bottega Veneta spring/summer 2025 fashion show in Milan, Italy, in September 2024. Photo: AP

At Bottega Veneta, Blazy oversaw the launch of its first fragrance collection. Photo: Bottega Veneta

A model shows a look from the Bottega Veneta womenswear spring/summer 2025 collection at Milan Fashion Week. Photo: AFP

How do I build a capsule wardrobe? 5 steps to a stylish, minimalist clothes collection

A  collection of 30 to 40 items is all you need to create a capsule wardrobe. Photo: Shutterstock

Every capsule wardrobe starts with clearing things out. Photo: Shutterstock

Stick to three to five basic colours depending on your skin type. Photo: Shutterstock

Build a new capsule wardrobe every three months according to the seasons. Photo: Shutterstock

A Chinese plus-size fashion retailer, sick of ‘very ugly clothes’, launched her own label

Amanda Yao live-streaming from her workshop. Photo: AFP

Plus-size clothing brand owner and influencer Amanda Yao makes fashionable, high-end clothing in Guangzhou, China for people like her. Photo: AFP

A worker photographing a clothing item at the workshop of plus-size clothing brand owner and influencer Amanda Yao in Guangzhou. Photo: AFP

Designer and company co-founder Sun Jiaqi steaming clothes at the office of plus-size clothing brand owner and influencer Amanda Yao in Guangzhou. Photo: AFP

Yao walking to her workshop in Guangzhou. She talks openly about weighing 100 kilograms. Photo: AFP

A worker preparing to iron clothing at Yao’s workshop. She began selling plus-size clothing four years ago. AFP

Yao inspecting jewellery in her office. Yao has encouraged some of her customers to embrace brighter, more cheerful designs. Photo: AFP

Yao live-streaming from her workshop. Even though Yao has built a loyal following, her posts can also attract cruel comments. Photo: AFP

Why is everyone buying New Balance sneakers? The ‘dad shoe’ is right on trend, has had high-profile collaborations and was worn at the Fifa World Cup

Young sneakerheads have been drawn of late to New Balance sneakers, such as its 580 model (above), belying its image as a “dad shoe” brand. 

A New Balance 550 shoe. Sneaker resale site StockX reported that New Balance was among the top five bestselling brands on Black Friday last year.

New Balance 580 sneakers. The history of New Balance dates back to 1906.

New Balance 550 sneakers. The 550 was created for basketball players.

Apple founder Steve Jobs at an event in San Francisco in 2010. Jobs was often spotted wearing New Balance sneakers. Photo: Getty Images

A pair of New Balance 550s. Subcultures such as gorpcore and normcore have helped New Balance become trendy.

New Balance’s Aimé Leon Dore x 550 sneakers.

The New Balance 1906R shoe.

A collaboration with Italian menswear brand Stone Island has seen New Balance release a football boot worn at the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

A pair of New Balance 808 sneakers.

New Balance 650 kicks. There has been a more than 800 per cent year-on-year increase in searches for the silhouette.

Lifestyle

Fashion & Beauty

Praised for modernising Bottega Veneta, Blazy will head a much bigger business at Chanel as he moves it on from the legacy of Karl Lagerfeld


Praised for modernising Bottega Veneta, Blazy will head a much bigger business at Chanel as he moves it on from the legacy of Karl Lagerfeld.


Chanel

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Profile | With Matthieu Blazy, a Raf Simons acolyte, as artistic director Chanel looks to the future

Praised for modernising Bottega Veneta, Blazy will head a much bigger business at Chanel as he moves it on from the legacy of Karl Lagerfeld