Ninety-five birds hung under the glass roof of the Grand Palais on Monday. Chanel spring 2027, Matthieu Blazy’s latest collection for the house, played out beneath them in 83 looks. According to WWD‘s review by Joelle Diderich, the birds were “suspended in midflight.” The show also came a year after Blazy prepared his first collection for Chanel. WWD calls his return to the Grand Palais that of “a conquering hero,” with “the year’s most successful brand revival under his belt.” We were not in the room, so the descriptions here follow WWD‘s account.
The guests at Chanel spring 2027 told part of the story before the first look. Many wore pieces from Blazy’s earlier Chanel collections, WWD reports, and look number eight from his Métiers d’Art show “seemed especially popular.” In a single year, in other words, his clothes had already become the clothes people wear to his shows.
Chanel spring 2027 at the Grand Palais
The set had a personal source. WWD reports that it drew on the village in southern Italy where Blazy spends his vacations, home to a river that is a sanctuary for migrating birds. Inside the Grand Palais, that idea became a flock frozen overhead.
Blazy tied the birds to freedom, which he called a principle in the house’s history. He also spoke about the mood of the moment. “We open the same phone every day to watch our news, and not to get too philosophical, but I think there is a space for poetry, beauty, joy, and it’s a good remedy to the dark times,” he told WWD.
The soundtrack added a literary layer. Nicole Kidman, a Chanel ambassador, sat in the front row, and her voice was also heard reading from Virginia Woolf’s Orlando and To the Lighthouse, WWD notes. The choice echoes her Oscar-winning turn as Woolf in The Hours. Orlando follows a hero who lives for centuries and changes sex along the way. As a result, it is a fitting text for a collection about the many lives inside one woman.
Then the finale changed the tone completely. Blazy closed the show with Britney Spears’s “Gimme More,” per WWD. Woolf on the soundtrack, Britney at the finale: the range was the point.
A story told through Gabrielle Chanel
Blazy built the collection around a narrative. Photos of the founder covered his mood board, WWD reports, and the clothes traced her path from stiff Edwardian tailoring, to dressing in her lovers’ suits, and finally to inventing her own tweed suit.
A less familiar Chanel interested him. “They are very interesting because you see a side of Chanel that is not known, which is the funny side, the joyful side, the fact that she loved to play music, the fact that she was obsessed with wearing costumes,” Blazy told WWD.
Edwardian beginnings
The early references leaned on structure. WWD singled out a pearl-embroidered corset top worn with masculine black pants. That pairing sets up the whole argument: a laced, period silhouette on top, and borrowed menswear below.
It also answered a complaint. Blazy’s boxy shapes have frustrated some longtime Chanel fans, WWD notes, and this season he offered many formfitting silhouettes, from clingy, semisheer knits to that corset top.
Borrowed suits
Next came the tailoring. Blazy kept his signature wide, cropped jackets, many with graphic motifs, according to WWD. He added patchwork jackets with ribbon trims borrowed from corsetry, and suit jackets with sloping hems. A sleeveless zebra-patterned gilet had an hourglass waist. Each piece mixed something soft with something cut from the men’s closet.
The suit, rebuilt for Chanel spring 2027
The range ran from spare to loud. WWD describes a crisp ivory coatdress with slits outlined in mismatched gold buttons, a choice for minimalists. At the other extreme, a top, skirt, and boots came in three clashing patterns.
The biggest news at Chanel spring 2027 was the suit itself. Blazy introduced what WWD calls the next-generation Chanel suit, in a newly developed stretch fabric with the look of tweed and the ease of athletic wear. He explained the thinking plainly. “I like this idea of the future of Chanel, because every design house is obsessed with the future, the sportswear. We all look at Nike,” he said.
Woolf on the soundtrack, Britney at the finale: the range was the point.
The lightness of Chanel spring 2027
Around the tailoring, Blazy added air. A couple of dancer silhouettes came with frothy tutus, WWD reports. There were also parachute dresses printed with clouds or with a sparkling night sky, which tied the clothes back to the birds above.
That mix of heavy and weightless matters for Chanel. Tweed and structure define the house, so softness is a real choice. In WWD‘s telling, the collection kept both in the same room, and Diderich calls it Blazy’s “most versatile collection to date.”
The 2.55, from the archive to the runway
The most symbolic accessory at Chanel spring 2027 was the oldest one in the building. Dyanira Hurbuscher opened and closed the show carrying Gabrielle Chanel’s own 2.55 bag from the archives, WWD reports.
The 2.55 takes its name from February 1955, when Chanel introduced it. Bringing out the founder’s personal bag does two things at once. First, it links the collection directly to her. Second, it frames everything between the first and last look as part of her story. On a runway of new ideas, the opening and closing image was a piece of history.
Blazy’s many women
Blazy explained his thinking to WWD. “Since I started at Chanel a year ago, we’ve tried with the team and the atelier to expand on the idea of women — so not just one woman, but the many women that could enter or belong to the world of Chanel,” he said.
That line explains the structure of Chanel spring 2027. Instead of one Chanel woman, there were several: the Edwardian girl, the woman in a borrowed suit, the founder in tweed, and the modern woman in a parachute dress. The Orlando reading points the same way. Woolf’s hero changes across centuries, and Blazy’s collection does something similar across 83 looks.
It also reflects the timing. WWD describes the collection as both a digest of the codes Blazy set over the last 12 months and a signal of what comes next. For more runway coverage, browse our Style section.
How Chanel spring 2027 fits the week
Paris Fashion Week runs through October 6, and Chanel showed on its penultimate day, according to the official schedule from the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. Its place late in the calendar means the show lands after most of the big houses have already spoken. To follow the final shows, see our guide to watching Paris Fashion Week.
Wearing the ideas now
Runway pieces take months to reach stores, but the ideas travel faster. A few from Chanel spring 2027 translate easily to a fall wardrobe.
- A fitted top with men’s trousers. The corset-and-black-pants pairing works with any structured top and a straight trouser.
- A short, wide jacket. Cropped tailoring sits well over high-waisted skirts and trousers.
- Mismatched buttons. Swap the buttons on an old blazer for a mixed set of gold ones.
- One sheer layer. A semisheer knit over a slip or a fitted tank adds the collection’s lightness.
- Ribbon trim. A grosgrain ribbon tied at the waist nods to the corset details.
A short, neat cut shows off a fitted collar, and our guide on how to ask for a bob haircut covers what to tell your stylist.
Chanel spring 2027: quick answers
When and where was the Chanel spring 2027 show?
On Monday, October 5, 2026, at the Grand Palais in Paris, per WWD.
How many looks were in the collection?
There were 83 looks, according to WWD.
Who opened and closed the show?
Dyanira Hurbuscher, carrying Gabrielle Chanel’s own 2.55 bag from the house archives.
What music played at the finale?
Britney Spears’s “Gimme More,” WWD reports.
What is new about the Chanel spring 2027 suit?
It uses a newly developed stretch fabric that looks like tweed but moves like athletic wear, according to WWD. Blazy linked the idea to sportswear and the future of the house.
What inspired the set?
A village in southern Italy where Blazy spends his vacations. WWD reports that its river is a sanctuary for migrating birds, hence the 95 birds overhead.
Who read on the soundtrack?
Nicole Kidman, reading from Virginia Woolf’s Orlando and To the Lighthouse.
Where can I see the full collection?
Chanel posts its runway collections on its fashion pages.
One year into the job, Blazy summed it up himself. “It’s a good start,” he told WWD, with a grin. Ninety-five birds, 83 looks, and one archival bag carried twice back him up.