THOUGHTS ON CHANEL’S MÉTIERS D’ART COLLECTION IN NEW YORK
editor MAREK BARTEK
Karl Lagerfeld once said, “Without them, I don’t know how we could do it.” He spoke, of course, about art professionals, or métiers d’art, if you want to be French about it. In 1984, Chanel began to buy small specialist workshops with the goal to preserve the expertise and craftsmanship of French luxury. Chanel’s annual Métiers d’Art collection is a celebration of these ateliers, which have become an essential part of everyday process, supplying everything from embroidered buttons to lace.
all images courtesy of CHANEL
With his first Métiers d’Art collection, Matthieu Blazy expands on the concept of what this show is, and brings us to New York’s subway. In his own words, “The New York subway belongs to all,” and in this context, it becomes a metaphor for a great equaliser. Everyone uses the subway; we’re all equal and a part of the environment. Simultaneously, Blazy wants to let us know that: Chanel is for the people!
The 81-look collection is no small feat but Blazy has proven to us (yet again) that he is up for a challenge delivering a true and honest love story between Paris and New York. Built on different archetypes, we’ve gotten everyone from a 70s journalist or an 80s businesswoman, to a modern-day student and Carrie-like extravagant dress lover. The opening look was simple and elegant, almost playful in a way the beige half-zip knit reimagined the go-to uniform of the city’s many finance bros. Paired with blue denim, black-and-white heel, jewellery, everyday bag and an absolutely gorgeous black tweed jacket with green buttons and tiny pearl embroideries along the edges, it was a perfect introduction of how even the simplest-looking things are thoroughly thought out.
There’s so much to unpack but a couple of looks definitely deserve a spotlight. A reconfigured archive Art Deco dress came to life through Lesage’s embroideries and Lemarié’s fringed feather work. Atelier Montex brought a bias-cut 1930s slip dress embroidered with shimmering fish, all while Maison Michel’s leopard obsession manifested itself in a leopard fascinator worn by the “cat woman.” Silk looking like denim and being treated with lingerie-like detailing, paired with complex embroideries, tulip skirts with hand-painted leopard patterns, each petal’s fringing taking several days to finish. Metalwork of the Goossens atelier could be a chapter on its own, going from ice-cube glass cabochons to handbags with metal detailing to create animals like a giraffe or squirrel. Look after look, this was truly a presentation of Chanel’s versatility.
But above it all, what really stood out was Blazy’s incredibly smart, subtle way to lure in a new customer. Chanel may never do menswear but the use of plaid, flannel-esque boucle tweed, and masculine silhouettes; they all play with a more gender-neutral approach to design and it is refreshing to see. We’ve seen men admiring and carrying Chanel bags — with a prime example being Pedro Pascal, the man himself — and now they might be prompted to buy some of the more neutral ready-to-wear, too.
After his first collection, there has been a lot of criticism pouring in, saying that “the only people who like Blazy’s Chanel didn’t like Chanel in the first place,” but I beg to differ. Blazy makes me excited for Chanel! It is a House with rich history but for a long time it relied solely on past references to the point you knew exactly what the collection would look like even before the first model walked out. Blazy isn’t attempting to reinvent the wheel, but he’s definitely making it spin faster than we’ve seen in the past couple of years. And I am more than certain if Coco Chanel were alive today, this is exactly what she’d be wearing — and wanted a Chanel woman to be!