<p>Matthieu Blazy draws inspiration from a book that once belonged to Gabrielle Chanel to create a Haute Couture collection in which fairy tales inspire the extraordinary virtuosity of the House's ateliers.</p>

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<p data-start="0" data-end="616">For his second Haute Couture collection at the helm of CHANEL, Matthieu Blazy chose an unexpected starting point: a book. Not an accessory destined to become iconic, but a collection of fairy tales,&nbsp;<em data-start="199" data-end="228">Les Fées, Contes des Contes</em>, discovered in Gabrielle Chanel's personal library. From this finding emerged a reflection that goes far beyond a literary reference. The Franco-Belgian Artistic Director asked himself: what if Gabrielle Chanel's life had always been a fairy tale? It is an idea that runs throughout the Fall/Winter 2026–27 Haute Couture collection without ever slipping into biographical reconstruction.</p>
<p data-start="618" data-end="1094">Instead, Blazy explores the symbolic universe of the House's founder, using fairy tales as a creative language rather than a decorative theme. Stories such as <em data-start="777" data-end="801">Jack and the Beanstalk</em> and <em data-start="806" data-end="838">Goldilocks and the Three Bears</em> become metaphors for Gabrielle Chanel's own journey—a woman who wrote her own destiny. The famous quote, recorded in <em data-start="956" data-end="972">Chanel m'a dit</em> by Lilou Marquand—<em data-start="991" data-end="1046">"I created my life because my life did not please me"</em>—serves as the collection's true guiding thread.</p>
<p data-start="1096" data-end="1799">That narrative comes to life in the ateliers of <strong data-start="1144" data-end="1153">le19M</strong>, where tailors, embroidery artisans, and specialists in soft dressmaking transform imagination into reality. Here, Haute Couture remains the primary language of expression. The tailored look that opens the show, crafted in guipure lace layered with transparent silk chiffon, recalls the magical beanstalk of the classic tale, while subtle details woven throughout the collection introduce a quiet sense of poetry: buttons that appear to transform from ducklings into swans, a sleeping bear-shaped minaudière, and hand-painted linings hidden from view—conceived as an intimate dialogue between the artisan and the woman who will wear the garment.</p>
<p data-start="1801" data-end="2150" data-is-last-node="" data-is-only-node="">Yet this narrative dimension never compromises the precision of the craftsmanship. On the contrary, it reveals its full depth. For Matthieu Blazy, the story lies not only in the outward appearance of a garment, but in its "inner world"—the accumulation of gestures, hidden details, and exceptional savoir-faire that remain invisible at first glance.</p>
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<p data-start="0" data-end="702" class="PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer">Visually, the collection builds on the ideas introduced in Matthieu Blazy's Haute Couture debut. Fabrics play with contrasts: deliberately frayed tweeds, floral guipure lace, pleated silk chiffons, and shimmering sequin embroidery create a wardrobe where richly layered textures are balanced by a refined palette of burgundy, gold, and black alongside powdery hues, mint green, and deep red. At the Grand Palais, a setting of climbing plants and tropical flowers evoked the enchanted forests of fairy tales—that ambiguous place where wonder meets the unknown. Alongside CHANEL's signature chains and pockets, tokens, charms, and talismans appeared like precious relics from a story still being written.<span aria-hidden="true" class="PDq2pG_selectionAnchor"></span></p>
<p data-start="704" data-end="1175">Yet it is in the cut that the collection finds its greatest strength. Moving between the precise architecture of tailoring and the fluidity of soft silhouettes, Blazy seeks to recapture the physical presence of Gabrielle Chanel through diagonal lines, proportions designed to enhance movement, and garments created to be lived in before they are admired. Fairy tales become a starting point for a deeper reflection on the body and the way Haute Couture interacts with it.</p>
<p data-start="1177" data-end="1691" data-is-last-node="" data-is-only-node="">The designer summed up this vision himself: <em data-start="1221" data-end="1371">"CHANEL Haute Couture is not merely a fairy tale. At its core, it is made for women—for their realities and the adventures of their everyday lives."</em> The statement firmly grounds the collection in the present. While childhood imagination inspires its narrative, it is the extraordinary expertise of the House's ateliers that gives it lasting credibility, reaffirming that at CHANEL, true magic is born from the precision of the hand and the excellence of craftsmanship.</p>

At CHANEL, Matthieu Blazy Opens the Book of Fairy Tales

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