Chanel Spring 2027: Gabrielle, Britney and Matthieu Blazy’s New Chanel

“It’s Britney, bitch.” Not exactly the line you expect to hear at Chanel, but as Britney Spears’s “Gimme More” came through the Grand Palais, Dua Lipa, Nicole Kidman and the rest of the front row were already dancing. The song closed a soundtrack that had moved through Virginia Woolf, classical music and Lesley Gore, ending one of Matthieu Blazy’s most personal Chanel collections on an unexpectedly playful note.

For Spring/Summer 2027, Blazy went back to Gabrielle Chanel before the mythology of Chanel had fully formed.

His starting point was a conversation between Gabrielle and the writer Louise de Vilmorin, who later worked on her memoirs. Chanel spoke about the relationship between the woman she had become and the child she once was. Blazy took that idea into the collection, tracing different periods of her life through the clothes that surrounded her: Edwardian corsetry, men’s tailoring, jersey underwear and, eventually, the Chanel suit.

“This is not a historical collection,” Blazy said in the show notes. “It’s a collection about Gabrielle Chanel’s layered stories.”

The first look established that immediately. Dyanira Hurbuscher walked out in a sheer white dress carrying Gabrielle Chanel’s own 2.55 handbag, borrowed from the house archives. Eighty-two looks later, she returned with the same bag to close the show.

Between those two appearances, Chanel looked considerably less formal than its reputation might suggest. Jackets were worn directly against bare skin. Pleated skirts became shorter and lighter. Corsetry appeared under bright tailoring; sleeveless waistcoats curved closely around the body. Ballet dresses paired fitted bodices with layers of tulle, while sheer knits and fluid evening dresses moved away from the rigid construction often associated with luxury dressing.

The references became less literal as the show continued. Color arrived in unexpected combinations; tiger-print tweed appeared in red and white; hems were deliberately unfinished and decorated with metallic beadwork. A sequence based on the changing sky moved from morning light toward night, ending with Anok Yai in a dark constellation-print dress.

Above the runway, illuminated birds crossed the Grand Palais beneath a vast moon. Blazy based them on the migratory birds he watches in Calabria, where he spends his holidays. Birds returned throughout the collection in embroidery, buttons and jewelry, and in a birdcage minaudière designed with birds appearing to escape from it.

The bags ranged from classic quilted styles in black, white and burgundy to zebra print and cloud-like shapes. Chanel’s two-tone shoes were treated with similar freedom: pumps came in leopard and tiger prints, baby blue and silver, while heavier sandals carried oversized gold double-Cs.

The soundtrack had its own narrative. Nicole Kidman’s recorded voice read from Virginia Woolf’s Orlando and To the Lighthouse. Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” appeared alongside Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns and a reworked version of a-ha’s “Take on Me.” 

“Any time I hear ‘It’s Britney, bitch,’ it wakes us all up,” Dua Lipa said after the show. “There was a point where we kind of had to stop ourselves from turning it into a dance party.”

After 83 looks devoted to the different lives of Gabrielle Chanel, “Gimme More” was the last song anyone heard.