In the words of Jane Austen:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a historic heritage house in possession of an atelier must be in want of a creative director. However little known the feelings or views of such a house may be upon its first announcement of said position opening, this truth is so well affixed in the minds of the designers in its vicinity that the job is considered the rightful property of one or the other amongst themselves!”
Alright, maybe not the exact words.
But words that, nevertheless, sum up the wave of unwavering, unrelenting, and at times, infuriating front-row fan-fic and haute hearsay that’s been a fixture of the fashion rumor mill since Madame Virginie Viard stopped dressing her models and Margaret Qualley in vaguely feminist tweed shorts back in June.
Call it Succession for the fashion press, if you will, because the debate predates Viard herself—her predecessor, Karl Lagerfeld (the great and powerful), has thrown in suggestions for a successor left and right, ranging from Haider Ackermann and Hedi Slimane to Alber Elbaz and Phoebe Philo.
The list had since come to encompass Daniel Roseberry, Simon Porte Jacquemus, Pieter Mulier, John Galliano, Jeremy Scott, Marc Jacobs (“Who else has that talent, sophistication and also knows what kids are into?” advocates Chanel brand ambassador Sofia Coppola) and even – somewhat randomly – Coppola herself.
Finally, however, the fantasy league-like castings culminated in a highly entertaining “you had to be there” moment on the afternoon of December 12th when the press releases dropped one after another like dominoes, first announcing the departure of Louise Trotter from Carven, then Trotter’s appointment at Bottega Veneta following the exit of one monsieur Matthieu Blazy who was now headed for… Chanel!
So, as Blazy gears up for his role as the label’s fourth-ever Artistic Director of Fashion Activities (and what’s quite possibly about to be the least relaxing next ten months of anyone in fashion), we take a look back at four things we (and probably those bigwigs at Chanel) love about him!
Nobody Puts on a Show Like Blazy Does
Maybe that’s not strictly true – the 2024 Maison Margiela Artisanal show exists, after all. But just shy of 10 years before Galliano’s major Margiela moment, the house was home to yet another anonymous name who had his big “fashion coming out” thanks to Suzy Menkes of (then) British Vogue.
“You can’t keep such a talent under wraps,” writes Menkes, in adulation of the bedazzled hearts, Swarovski crystal masks, and avant-garde ‘I Love You’ motifs of Artisanal AW14 by then-head designer Matthieu Blazy, a legacy and a prophecy he’s since upheld throughout his stint at Bottega Veneta via the holy union of culture and craftsmanship.
Immediately, those hulking leather animal beanbags of SS25, inspired by a 1968 Zanotta Saccho chair called The Ark, spring to mind (with Jacob Elordi, the brand’s rabbit-eared ambassador, fittingly sat atop a rabbit chair).
Others from Blazy’s eclectic round-up of A-list attendees include A$AP Rocky, Olympian Boxer Imane Khelif, designer (and former boss) Raf Simons, Julianne Moore, Michelle Yeoh, a newly-blonde Kendall Jenner, Kate Moss, cult Italian pornstar and politician Cicciolina, and demure diva Jools Lebron.
Unlike Lagerfeld or Galliano, however, Blazy is not a showman – Bruno Pavlovsky of Chanel says Coco Chanel “probably would find Matthieu nicer than Karl.” Instead, it’s the attention to the minute minutiae, perhaps an ode to his favorite ice-cream stracciatella or set design by acclaimed Italian architect Gaetano Pesce, or his ability to tap into the pop-culture pulse, that made his shows so memorable.
Nobody Does Design Like Blazy Does
Speaking of minutiae, Blazy’s opening look for Bottega – from his debut lineup for Fall/Winter 2022 – comprised a simple white tank tucked into loose-fitting lightwash jeans. Only the entire look was rendered entirely out of nubuck leather!
Ever since, Blazy’s blatantly banal yet beguilingly luxe leather pieces fashioned out of the most mundane everyday essentials: lumberjack and flannel, pinstriped button-downs, unassuming knits, utilitarian peacoats and slinky sequined dresses (likened to a disco watermelon) – sumptuous trompe l’œil tricks reminiscent of Margiela’s signature leitmotif dresses – have ceaselessly impressed.
And this idea of taking the humdrum to haute proportions (also a prominent nod to his time at Phoebe Philo’s Céline avec l’accent) quickly became his trademark trick, and “Voila,” he says, anything could be made to “look like Bottega.” It’s an elevated form – or rather, “fetish of craft”, in Cathy Horyn’s words – that “exists for people who wear the clothes, not only for the people who look at them.”
In essence, he invented Bottega’s own language of luxury that eludes the mass appeal of social media-friendly marketing, and fans hope he’ll now do the same as the new artistic director of Chanel, trading in woven leather for trademark tweed.
Nobody Wields a Bag Like Blazy Does
Less talked about than Blazy’s opening $6,900 trompe-l’œil denim was the bag the model toted – notably, the $7,500 Kalimero Città – handmade and complete with a ‘Certificate of Craft,’ the brand’s lifetime warranty on iconic bags.
Starting off as the design director of ready-to-wear in 2020 while Daniel Lee was still churning out woven totes and Cassette bags in maxi Intrecciato and chunky gold hardware, Blazy’s take on Bottega – primarily a handbag and leather goods label – has been gentler. Case in point, the slouchy Sardine (also from his debut) with a Brancusi Sardine-shaped handle in brass, wood, or Murano glass (the latter, only 25 of which were ever produced, retailing for a staggering $11,000).
The Andiamo, now a menswear staple in bubblegum pink and red suede, owes a similarly viral minute to a paparazzi shot of a barefooted Jacob Elordi.
In fact, in an age where the it-bag has been proclaimed dead (and deader), Blazy’s bags stand out in that they specifically seek to not be one; their fine weave is less of an aesthetic decision than a commitment to their craft and durability. Or, sometimes, a fun reminder to not take oneself too seriously, judging by the designer’s blown-up Intrecciato rendition of Richard Scarry’s Biggest Word Book Ever.
Nobody Knows Blazy Better Than Blazy Does
His first Google Search was Kate Moss (the same Moss who appears on Bottega’s SS23 runway in the internet-breaking leather flannel). He’s got a thing for Venice, so Venetian Murano glass prominently features in his latest fragrance line, launched in October. His obsession with reading culminated in a limited-edition leather The Strand tote collab, a seasonal fanzine, and his revival of the historic Butt Magazine.
In fact, everywhere you look within Bottega (or shall we say, Butt-ega), you see references that Blazy has deftly pulled from pop-culture tokens of his past.
Yet, do we really know what the real Matthieu Blazy is like?
Akin to Jane Birkin offloading the bowels of her voluminous Birkin, confidently declaring, “Even when you show everything, you reveal very little,” we see so much of Blazy, yet we know so little. We know, for instance, that Raf Simons hired him following his graduate collection at the La Cambre art school of Brussels and that he interned under John Galliano and Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga before joining Margiela as head designer (a secret gig only known thanks to Menkes).
And Phoebe Philo was known to hunt him down to poach him for Céline!
But Blazy also rarely grants interviews or hangs out with celebrities (New York Magazine dubbed him “The most famous designer you’ve never heard of”), a sense of secrecy that’s served him well throughout Margiela’s labcoat-clad ethos of anonymity, as well as at Bottega, whose slogan from 1957 – “When your own initials are enough” – was reinstated in 2022.
Blazy is also no stranger to the fact that throughout the 2000s, Tomas Maier angled the Venetian label as sort of an Italian answer to Hermès, and his product-first, not designer-first (or name-first) approach stands as a testament to that.
It makes sense, therefore, why Chanel would want to hire him, a relatively low-profile recruit compared to Vuitton’s extravagant Pharrell affair. Blazy is a designer who makes stuff, not content—and good stuff at that.
And Chanel could undoubtedly do with some of that now.
I used to be a Chanel fan, but the designs of late (read: many, many years) have not appealed to me.
With Blazy, however, this is a total game-changer.