Today's Chanel show in Paris marked Matthieu Blazy's full first year at the storied house. This time last October, the Belgian designer shot out of the gate with a collection so joyful, that it washed us clean of any expectations of his new post—we were too busy witnessing the moment. This season, we have seen many designers who were major players in the great reshuffling put out their second Spring/Summer collections, marking their respective one year anniversaries at their houses. Few of whom have had a run quite as successful as Blazy's.

Matthieu Blazy, since back in his Bottega days, has always had a knack for knowing what women want. To know what women want is to understand women, and understanding women is challenging when you are not on the for-women-by-women roll call. Yet somehow, here Blazy is, fashion's golden child of the public imagination with Chanel at the top of the Lyst index as the world's hottest brand. Understanding women is at the core of this. And the multitudes in which us women carry, was at the core of Blazy's Spring/Summer 2027 collection for Chanel.

Chanel SS27 // Chanel
Chanel SS27 // Chanel

His starting point was "different faces of the same coin"—as told by the show notes—the women who embody new identities and versions of themselves throughout their lives, shedding old eras like snakeskin to welcome a new form. He was reflecting on Gabrielle Chanel's journey of transformation, from her childhood to Chanel. Here, it was used as a metaphor of the season, with recurring bird imagery and motifs—swallows, swifts, and seagulls illuminating the show space, which rang out with birdsong.

Chanel SS27 // Chanel
Chanel SS27 // Chanel

The collection to follow made room for all of these versions of women. An underwear-like slip dress emerges as the first exit, followed by a procession of knitted, beaded and embellished skirt suits, glitzy gowns, and two frou frou dresses—sleek and structured on the top and then giving way to cloud-like layers of frothy silk, and two flou dresses of printed silk that billowed around the models as they walked, one printed with clouds to represent the morning and the other with stars for evening. Tweed this season was a little more sexy. There were pencil skirts with deep thigh slits paired with cropped jackets left open to expose bare torsos; other tweed sets featured pleated school-girl mini skirts.

Of course, there were considerations for the more grown-up woman, too. Blazy was sure to reference Madame Chanel's extensive exploration of menswear (one of the formative ways she rebelled against the design codes for women in her time) with formal daywear, wool trousers, and suit jackets, some of which were transformed into raw-edged gilets before offering up more ladylike woven dresses for the ultra-sophisticated of the Chanel fanbase.

Chanel SS27 // Chanel
Chanel SS27 // Chanel

Chanel SS27 // Chanel
Chanel SS27 // Chanel

The show closed out the only way it could have: with a simple black tweed skirt suit
—the mantle of the Chanel legacy and the most core and enduring house code. It doesn't matter what kind of woman you are, we can all be united by the Chanel tailleur, and while there were plenty of less tricky, showy moments this season, perhaps we all needed to be reminded of the essence of Chanel. As the show closed out and the finale began, Britney Spears' Gimme More rang out as Blazy's girls took their final lap, as if to say: we all want seconds, thirds, and fourths of what the designer is dishing up. It's Blazy, bitch!

Chanel SS27 // Chanel
Chanel SS27 // Chanel