Matthieu Blazy's Chanel Goes Back to The Beach

Biarritz has always been a spiritual home for Gabrielle Chanel. In 1915, the designer opened a couture house on the Basque coast. Today, Matthieu Blazy returned to the salon for his first-ever Cruise show.

In Biarritz, Gabrielle Chanel unearthed a freedom that, at the time, only existed away from the tightly-wound etiquette that accompanied city life. For Chanel Cruise 2026, Blazy touched this sense of liberation once again, reimagining what madame Chanel so deftly brought together over a century ago: a freedom to move and explore the natural world.

Chanel is a brand that knows how these themes interact with one another and create silhouettes that convey ease, function, and elegance. And Matthieu Blazy, at the helm, has proven that he understands the demands of a house that has crystal-clear codes, yet is constantly expanding. This was, partially the legacy of Karl Largerfeld, whose vision knew no bounds in the face of any tangible limitations. But this very idea started with Gabrielle Chanel’s curiosity for a world beyond what women knew in the early 20th century. 

Today, in the place where Madame Chanel did so much to free women of what was expected of them, Blazy used the natural world—the sea, sand, and sun—to redefine and reinterpret the folklore of the house. Starting with the black dress, one of Chanel’s most storied silhouettes. For Cruise, Blazy returned to Gabrielle’s original sketch: a mid-length black crepe shift dress with a deep v-neck with white art-deco stitching across the body. The large bow, which was originally situated at the back of the dress, was transformed into a clutch bag held beside the model as a modern take, drawing us back to the origins of the house. For Blazy, this marked a new beginning.

The dress was followed by a women’s tuxedo, then a black mini dress with a matching jacket, the collar of which was lined with beaded starfish; a CC emblazoned bathing cap accompanied the look. The next exit was a beaded tank dress in coral red with an asymmetric hem, mimicking marine invertebrates. Then, a series of languid silk foulard dresses with waist ties and open tweed and denim suits, all accessorized with bathing caps or barefoot shoes with "heel caps," or bags that had tiny, Chanel cap-toed shoes fastened to the straps. The duality of these accessories—of giant raffia beach bags with hand-beaded evening flap bags and barefoot sandals against art deco court heels—conveys the "beach to bar" concept in the most glamorous sense of the term.

The signature double C became a structural element, rather than an overly-branded one. A black and cream silk dress featured the interlocking logo at the torso, the bends of the C’s forming off-the shoulder draped sleeves. Nautical red, navy, and ecru stripes added to the seaside feel, while sequin paillettes shimmered on dresses and suits like mermaid scales, furthering this textural theme that Blazy has been riffing on since his Spring debut, where he builds on signature shapes while adding his own tactile touch.

At Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel Cruise, he returned to the idea of levity that has carried his first three collections at the house. He's a master in uniting a sense of timelessness with a seemingly intrinsic knowing of how the modern woman wants to feel and dress. This is really all Chanel is in its most concentrated form. The savoir-faire, yes. The glamour, the luxury, the couture of it all, yes. But Chanel pared back has always been simply about the woman—and this Chanel woman is at the beach.