Marking the debut of the Pre-Fall collection for Matthieu Blazy as Artistic Director of Fashion Activities, the Chanel Métiers d’Art 2026 collection unveils the ‘sub(way)-culture’ where the ordinary becomes the extraordinary, with the aid of the Maisons d’art.

“The New York subway belongs to all. Everyone uses it: there are students and gamechangers; statesmen and teenagers. It is a place full of enigmatic yet wonderful encounters, a clash of pop archetypes, where everyone has somewhere to go and each is unique in what they wear. Like in the movies, they are the heroes of their own stories,” said Matthieu Blazy.

 

Shifting through space and time, from the 1920s to the 2020s, from Art Deco extravagances to a new silken lounge reality, a conflation of periods and personas tells a non-linear tale with the crafts of the Métiers d’art at its heart. Playful and chic, pragmatic and eccentric, a love story between Paris and New York unfolds, one of the exceptional savoir-faire of the Maisons d’art of le19M united with the pow! of pop impact. Each piece is a love letter to the intensity and emotion of exceptional craftsmanship.

In this amalgam of elevated craft and pop culture, an elegantly witty high-style occurs. ‘Lingerie denim’ is combined with complex embroideries, evoking a new kind of western wear; an archive Art Deco dress is reconfigured and embroidered by Lesage with fringed feather work by Lemarié – this new school flapper chooses to wear hers with illusion chinos; the motif of the men’s shirt is once more revisited and weighted with a Chanel chain, this time lumberjack flannel is evoked in a sumptuous wool boucle tweed.

 

Minaudières have hidden meanings – that oyster has a pearl inside – as well as more obvious mischievous intent in the shape of enameled monkey nuts and apples, the tourist trinket exalted. They join a dazzling array of jewelry, from ice cube glass cabochons to deco hummingbirds, crafted by the goldsmiths of Goossens. While a multiplicity of silk linings from hand-painted designs feature motifs of the city, even Coco Chanel walking her dog with the backdrop of the famous New York skyline. The distinctive neighborhood figures, the idea of the ‘urban jungle’, and the domestic, mystical and mythical animals of the city merge.