Matthieu Blazy launched a fashion rocket into the solar system set of the Grand Palais last night. He aced his Chanel debut with a colorful, light-handed and Chanel coded collection which was all about desirable clothes. Creating desire with fashion is what the moment calls for and he excelled at it. There was tweed and there were camellias, but the fabric was light and the flower abstracted. This pretty much summed up his show approach. Blazy had his hands (“apporter sa patte”) on everything, interpreted his way. The white shirt was the backbone for the opening looks which he made together with Charvet to connect rue Cambon with Place Vendome and render a statement on French chic which has never felt fresher.

Blazy took his time, he avoided teasers or any other social media stunt and worked his way quietly behind the scenes to ready this gigantic collection which had strong craftsmanship and atelier touches in all his closing dresses. Everything just fell perfectly. Let’s see Gabrielle Chanel as one of the first tomboys who perfected mannish dressing with feminine allure and that was the connecting point for Blazy and dialogue with the founder. Gone were the heavy-handed themed collections (Tweed, pearl necklace) from his predecessor and the clothes soared over the runway, found a rhythm, and danced. Using a classical music rendition of SNAP!’s club hit Rhythm Is A Dancer which then morphed into the bass heavy original felt like the cool gesture Blazy is known for. Yes, he had the longest time to prepare for this (10 months), but it showed. Chanel is a brand new again.

The master of creating tension?

German model Penny Ternes’ happily married the androgyny meets femineity allure Blazy distilled here. Her look summed up the simple elegance of a shirt and the exuberance of a feather embroidered orange ball skirt. This tension carried the show throughout.

What stood out?

Nothing looked heavy, everything flowed, and the tone was set with the first look. A wool pant suit where the jacket was chopped off combined with a white shirt cuffed over the sleeve with insouciance and roomy pleated pants.

The stars?

Let’s not even start to mention all the ambassadors and film stars, directors and singers who attended this show and made the whole debut season a bit of a silly celebrity sweepstakes. Blazy had his eyes on only one star: his collection.