Since 2002, Chanel has put on a ready-to-wear show called Métiers d’Art. It’s meant to showcase the exquisite work of its satellite ateliers, among them the embroiderers Lesage and Montex, the milliner Maison Michel, and Lemarié, a maker of feather and flower trimmings. Karl Lagerfeld held the first Métiers show in the house’s couture salon, at the top of the famous staircase with guests seated informally about. Soon after, he took the show on the road. On Tuesday, Matthieu Blazy, Chanel’s new creative director, staged two shows on a Bowery subway platform for 1,100 people.

Blazy, who had an outstanding debut in October, had several things in mind. He said he was thinking about Gabrielle Chanel’s first trip to New York in 1931, when she stopped on her way to Hollywood to design clothes fo

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