It’s no secret that Chanel isn’t popular ’round these parts. We started to wonder if it wasn’t popular anywhere else, either, because the top job sat empty for six months while high-profile designers either took other jobs or had their names tossed about with no payoff. My favorite totally cockamamie suggestion was Jeremy Scott; even if Karl Lagerfeld did fancy that idea, it’s a wild mismatch and therefore would have been enormously fun but also terribly unlikely. And indeed it did not come to pass. Matthieu Blazy, after three years of reviving Bottega Veneta, will step into Virginie Viard’s shoes and see if he can finally do what she could not: make Chanel cool. Or at least buzzy. If he does, Justin “Alex Karev” Chambers can play him in the movie.
At Bottega, Blazy attracted clients like Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lawrence, and front-row regular Julianne Moore, who wears the line a LOT now and once sat at the show on beanbag chairs shaped like animals. He also notably made my favorite gown from Emmy night, worn by Ayo Edebiri. Chanel is giving him the made-up title of “Artistic Director of Fashion Activities.” I don’t know why he can’t just be the creative director; this makes it sound like he will also be making Chanel coloring books and arranging a Field Day. Three-legged race, K.Stew and Margaret Qualley versus Penelope Cruz and Margot Robbie. Go!!!
It’s not always possible to look at a person’s work for another house and predict how they apply that sensibility — but in the case of, say, Alessandro Michele at Valentino, it has turned out to be. So let’s check out Blazy’s approach. Above is the most recent Spring/Summer 2025 Bottega show, and here is Fall 2024:
And, Spring/Summer 2024:
