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Matthieu Blazy

Agence France-Presse

<div><br/></div><div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-1" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/DDgnetctxRr/embed/captioned/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=1080&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A1%2C%22os%22%3A29921072.599999998%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="1113" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-1" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe>PARIS — VIPs and fashionistas are all jostling for invitations to the most-coveted show at Paris Fashion Week: Matthieu Blazy&#x27;s debut at Chanel. But who is the 41-year-old designer?</div><p>The Franco-Belgian is relatively low-key -- certainly not one of the big celebrity names he beat for the job -- and was picked for Chanel after a highly successful three-year stint at Bottega Veneta.</p><p>The new job is a massive promotion and career boost, however, taking him from a medium-sized Italian label to the world&#x27;s second-largest luxury clothing brand with sales of around $20 billion annually.</p><p>Said to have impressed with his in-depth presentations during the recruitment process at Chanel, he embodies &quot;a new generation with sincere humility,&quot; Chanel fashion president Bruno Pavlovsky said of Blazy when his nomination was announced.</p><p>Along with Blazy&#x27;s creativity, the compliment about his character underlined another of his perceived qualities: the lack of a huge ego in an industry famed for them.</p><p>That is seen as good a fit for Chanel&#x27;s discreet family owners, Alain and Gerard Wertheimer. They were looking for a loyal figure as only the fourth creative director in the brand&#x27;s fabled history.</p><p>&quot;Chanel is a privately owned family house,&quot; Serge Carreira, a fashion expert at Sciences Po university in Paris, told AFP after Blazy&#x27;s nomination. &quot;The brand can take a long-term approach and allow time for things.&quot;</p><p>Blazy&#x27;s biggest challenge will be moving the brand on from the 40-year period defined by its legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld.</p><p>Until last year, Chanel was directed by Virginie Viard, the late Lagerfeld&#x27;s handpicked successor, and this year&#x27;s collections have been handled by an in-house team.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;Hottest tickets&#x27;<br/></strong></div><p>Blazy won widespread praise for his work at Bottega Veneta. He helped modernize the look of the classic Italian leather-goods house, making it more playful and daring, while also expanding its product range.</p><p>He oversaw the launch of its first fragrances and high-end jewellery, and updated the brand&#x27;s classic &quot;intrecciato&quot; woven patterns with hit bags such as Kalimero, Andiamo and Sardine.</p><p>One of his first projects was designing a pair of $7,000 (6,000-euro) jeans from leather printed with a denim pattern that makes them look like the cotton versions.</p><p>His shows at Milan Fashion Week, attended by celebrities such as Julianne Moore and Jennifer Lawrence, quickly became &quot;a top highlight, consistently among the hottest tickets,” The Business of Fashion&#x27;s luxury editor Robert Williams told AFP.</p><p>Chanel is a different scale, however, meaning that &quot;the pressure to back up that creative edge with wearable designs is certainly a lot higher,” said Williams.</p><p>Blazy soft-launched some of his first designs at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month. British actress Tilda Swinton was seen in loosely cut white trousers and a short-sleeved blouse.</p><p>The full collection will be revealed in Paris on October 6, the penultimate day of Paris Fashion Week, which kicks off on Monday.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Raf Simons friendship</strong></div><p>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.</p><p>Blazy grew up in Paris with his art expert father and historian mother, along with a twin sister and brother.</p><p>&quot;Tom Sawyer was my childhood hero,&quot; he told The New York Times in an interview last year, referring to the free-spirited titular character of Mark Twain&#x27;s novel.</p><p>His own teenage rebelliousness led to him being sent to boarding schools in France and England.</p><p>Having obtained his high school diploma, he went on to study fashion at La Cambre art school in Brussels and was hired after graduation by Simons, kickstarting a career that has seen him rapidly rise through major European and American labels.</p><p>He first came to public attention while designing as part of an anonymous collective that put together a collection for France&#x27;s Maison Margiela in 2014.</p><p>Renowned British fashion journalist Suzy Menkes was so impressed by his work using rare fabrics that she &quot;outed&quot; him in an article in Vogue. &quot;You can&#x27;t keep such a talent under wraps,&quot; she wrote.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>&quot;It felt like a movie,&quot; he told The New York Times.</p><div><br/></div><div><em>© Agence France-Presse</em></div>

<p>The Franco-Belgian is relatively low-key and was picked for Chanel after a highly successful three-year stint at Bottega Veneta.</p>

The Franco-Belgian is relatively low-key and was picked for Chanel after a highly successful three-year stint at Bottega Veneta.

Who is Matthieu Blazy, the new man at Chanel?

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Who is Matthieu Blazy, the new man at Chanel?

Agence France-Presse

Published Sep 29, 2025 04:44 PM PHT

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Updated Sep 29, 2025 09:49 PM PHT

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Matthieu Blazy

Chanel

Paris Fashion Week

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