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SCMP Style Reporter

Chanel is always one of the most highly anticipated outings on the Paris Couture Week calendar, and Matthieu Blazy certainly didn’t disappoint this past season. For fall/winter 2026-27, Blazy made sure the follow-up to his first couture outing for the maison felt less like a collection presentation and more like a storybook brought to life.

Staged at the Grand Palais, the show turned the Salon d’Honneur into a fairy-tale landscape of giant flowers, hanging chairs, climbing vines and oversized vases, with a watercolour painter live-sketching the scene as the show was under way.

Blazy’s inspiration came from a fairy-tale book discovered in Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s library, and the collection leaned into that sense of whimsy. “I started to wonder, was Gabrielle Chanel’s life a fairy tale?” Blazy wrote in his show notes. “[I] asked myself if, together with the haute couture ateliers, we could make garments that tell stories like a book.”

The opening looks set the tone with sheer, reimagined suits in checks. When you look closely, you’ll see the checks are in fact rendered in three-dimensional braided ropes. Floral appliqués were used liberally across skirts, suits and dresses, while the accessories took on a more playful note with bean- and animal-shaped minaudières which married fashion and jewellery.

Following drop-waist column dresses came airy lingerie-inspired pieces in soft hues. Translucent fabrics, flowing skirts, and cuts that bared the skin in all the right places conjured an array of fairy-like silhouettes which looked elegant and ethereal while channelling a childlike sense of wonder.

The show’s storytelling theme is manifested in the smallest details on the garment. Vine-like adornments sprawled across several pieces, while flower- and butterfly-shaped heels turned footwear into miniature art pieces. Embroidery, feathers and beadwork gave the collection a living, breathing sense of movement and fantasy – the effect was theatrical, but it never drifted too far from the house codes that anchor Chanel couture.

Blazy’s creative vision was that couture should tell stories, not merely decorate the body. “Inside these garments, say you open a jacket, it is patched with embroidered yellow memo notes: ‘Back in five minutes’, ‘Dinner is ready’. The wearer will choose their own messages that reflect who they are. Everything is a story or creates a story,” the designer says.

That sentiment sat neatly alongside the show’s broader vision of Chanel as a place where fantasy and function can coexist. The maison’s precision in cut, construction and embellishment was enhanced but not overwhelmed by the collection’s fairy-tale references – ranging from Jack and the Beanstalk to Goldilocks – so the clothes felt lived-in rather than costume-like.
Even the most elaborate pieces, such as a black dress with a stunning V-cut embellished with swanlike feathers down the back, or a straw hat with flower appliqués woven in, remained grounded in the imaginative yet restrained savoir faire that has long defined Chanel couture.

What made the collection compelling is the balance between spectacle and intimacy. The set presented an enchanted world, but in Blazy’s hands, Chanel couture doesn’t just live inside a dreamscape; this latest collection proves fantasy can be worn in everyday life.


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Style Edit: Chanel’s Paris haute couture show was a storybook brought to life

Chanel’s haute couture fall/winter 2026-27 collection, unveiled in Paris in July, proves that fantastical pieces can have a place in everyday life. Photo: Handout

Chanel incorporated the mythical plant from the English fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk into its haute couture fall/winter 2026-27 show. Photo: Handout

A model wears a tweed hat at Chanel’s haute couture fall/winter 2026-27 show in Paris in July. Photo: Reuters

The fairy tale-themed presentation marked Matthieu Blazy’s sophomore haute couture collection for Chanel. Photo: Handout

A look from the Chanel haute couture fall/winter 2026-27 collection. Photo: Handout

Translucent fabrics in soft hues became ethereal dresses at Chanel. Photo: Handout

Fairy-tale footwear from Chanel’s haute couture fall/winter 2026-27 collection. Photo: Handout

Matthieu Blazy, artistic director of Chanel. Photo: EPA

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The show’s set featured works by Picasso. Photo: © Succession Picasso 2026

 Chanel’s Métiers d’Art show in Seoul. Photo: © Succession Picasso 2026

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Inspired by a fairy-tale book found in Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel’s library, Matthieu Blazy’s latest collection proves that fantasy and function can coexist


Inspired by a fairy-tale book found in Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel’s library, Matthieu Blazy’s latest collection proves that fantasy and function can coexist.


Style Edit: Chanel’s Paris haute couture show was a storybook brought to life

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Inspired by a fairy-tale book found in Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel’s library, Matthieu Blazy’s latest collection proves that fantasy and function can coexist

Inspired by a fairy-tale book found in Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel’s library, Matthieu Blazy’s latest collection proves that fantasy and function can coexist