What’s It Like to Debut at Chanel? Four Months in the Life of Matthieu Blazy

Portraits by Annie Leibovitz. Fashion Photographs by Rafael Pavarotti.

Fashion cannot exist without change, but some changes reach beyond the season. When it was announced last year that Chanel was without a creative director, people across the industry looked to the house in nervous expectation. For nearly 40 years, Chanel had articulated the vision of one man: Karl Lagerfeld. After he died, in 2019, his longtime deputy Virginie Viard had carried on his style. Viard’s departure last year opened one of the highest seats in fashion, but also raised the possibility that Chanel’s taste could take a startling turn. Matthieu Blazy, a comparatively young designer who had distinguished himself doing surprising things with leather at Bottega Veneta, was not considered an obvious choice, and when