Discussion: Who Should Be The Creative Director of Chanel?

[Creative]

My prediction is Blazy will be anointed by the fashion world with praise despite Chanel customers feeling very cool towards the news. The Chanel customer will see him for the Emperor in New Clothes that he really is, and it will be an total flop. Like Raf's Dior it will garner general critical acclaim by the press, but the masses won't care for it. It will fly over their heads and they will be happy to go to LVMH.

LVMH is keeping JWA in their back pocket, either Dior or LV mens. I don't think Pharrell is a long-term plan. Hedi and Galliano are also in their back pocket.

I don't think Leena Nair has the fashion instincts for this either. If she picked Blazy, it's because he is nice for HR and suited for 2024, but fashion is ready to swing outside of quiet luxury/intellectualism. The Prada-Raf-Phoebe intellectual triangle that Blazy is at the center of is already so tired.

Also wishing Kering the best of luck

Good comment..

I think LVMH need to wait till Chanel hype fades away a little bit to make their next moves. I think Blazy will be a flop as you said a la Raf at Dior. If he doesn’t bring that much grandeur, JW or Hedi at Dior will eat it up.

 

[LadyJunon]

Good comment..

I think LVMH need to wait till Chanel hype fades away a little bit to make their next moves. I think Blazy will be a flop as you said a la Raf at Dior. If he doesn’t bring that much grandeur, JW or Hedi at Dior will eat it up.

That would be very smart: See what Chanel delivers for January and March, let MGC have her silly swansong for May and then bring in a grandiose JWA or Hedi debut for July.

 

[blueorchid]

I'm struggling with what is even reasonable to expect from a Chanel CD in 2025. It's a puzzle I can't figure out.

 

[tourbillions]

Their first mistake was thinking they don't need a star designer. And the 2nd one is "hiring" someone who has an unclear POV.

I can imagine all the green initiative BS to cover up the lack of imagination for the upcoming show sets. "Chanel downsized its show set as a push to a greener initiative from blazy".

It is ok, i think he is a placeholder when Burton is finally ready for Chanel. She is the best option for Chanel, she knows how to dress the Chanel client. Just enough "Edge" to make fashion moments but still a lot of focus on quality and workmanship. Good eye on accesories as well.

I think that's what's expected from a Chanel CD in 2025. Doesn't need to recreate the wheel and challenge our senses but has to be able to remake/refresh the classics every season. And making showstoppers every now and then. Their clients should feel like they are missing out if they dont buy this season's tweed jacket modifications.

 

[Alquimista]

Burton would not be ready for chanel even if she stops making those corny white peasant dresses she is crazy for.

If Blazy don't have a strong pov, burton is just plain blind. Her contribution to fashion is zero.

Not to mention she has nothing to do with the design philosophy Gabriele Chanel stood for.

 

[tourbillions]

Definitely not how i see it.

But it is ok ill atleast have givenchy to look forward to. Im prepared to see experimentation without the end product looking like school projects again.

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

Whoever the next Chanel CD is, it might be a good moment for him/her to rescue the younger Deauville-Serge Lifar-knitwear era, to balance the sempiternal rue Cambon-tweed-combos, which although very iconic feel sometimes a little too matronly.

 

[Alquimista]

Definitely not how i see it.

But it is ok ill atleast have givenchy to look forward to. Im prepared to see experimentation without the end product looking like school projects again.

No bad feelings for Burton but she is just not a good fit for Chanel imo. Now for Givenchy she is perfect.

 

[PDFSD]

Blazy Boy better have show set ideas to fill up the Grand Palais for the next 5 years :​

Fashionnetwork.com​

Chanel strengthens its support for the Grand Palais​

Chanel is strengthening its support for the Grand Palais with a five-year partnership to organize its fashion shows. The agreement, unveiled Monday in Paris, will be used to fund a new series of events.

Chanel has increased its budget for the Grand Palais and will spend €30 million on the site over the next five years, €5 million more than the €25 million it spent in the five years before it closed for major renovations.

“The Grand Palais is a beautiful dream machine,” says Chanel fashion president Bruno Pavlovsky, noting that Karl Lagerfeld ’s first shows at the Grand Palais were in 2005.

One of Europe’s greatest architectural gems, the Grand Palais reopened this summer after a three-year closure, just in time for the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. It had two gigantic tiers of seating, and despite its remarkable size, the building was packed to the rafters. The City of Paris had to give special permission to allow 11,000 spectators to cram in, 1,000 more than the usual legal maximum.

“There were so many fans during the judo matches that the people sitting at the top of the stands could touch the glass ceiling,” marveled Didier Fusillier, the president of the Grand Palais, during a tour of the upper galleries.

Since the Games, Chanel has shown its latest ready-to-wear collection at the Grand Palais in September and is preparing to return more regularly: all of the label’s haute couture and ready-to-wear presentations will take place at the Grand Palais by the end of the decade. Its two traveling shows, Métiers d’Art and Croisière, will continue to favor far-flung exotic locations.

The next fashion exhibition at the Grand Palais is Du Cœur à la Main: Dolce & Gabbana , a love letter to Italian culture, the inspiration for this retrospective of the work of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. Commissioned by art historian Florence Muller, it will be on view for twelve weeks starting January 10.

Before that, the Grand Palais will host a giant installation by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota in one of its upper galleries. On the ground floor, workers are busy finishing the preparation of the ice rink, which will be installed for three weeks for the Christmas period.

“We had great discussions with Chanel and Bruno Pavlovsky, who assured us that Chanel could support this whole program. We had practically no money, so none of this would have happened without Chanel’s support,” Didier Fusillier admits during a presentation lunch.

The reopening of the Grand Palais coincides practically with the closure of the Centre Pompidou , whose €400 million renovation is due to begin next September. During the renovation, the Centre Pompidou will organize traveling exhibitions, with the first event focusing on the work of pop culturalist artists Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely and Pontus Hultén at the Grand Palais. Chanel is a patron of this exhibition and of another artistic presentation entitled Art Brut , revisiting this artistic movement through the private collections of Bruno Decharme. The house is also providing financial support to Aux Frontières du Dessin, a huge exhibition of the Centre Pompidou's unique collection of drawings, designed to highlight “the spontaneity of gesture”.

 

[jeanclaude]

Blazy Boy better have show set ideas to fill up the Grand Palais for the next 5 years :​

Fashionnetwork.com​

Chanel strengthens its support for the Grand Palais​

Chanel is strengthening its support for the Grand Palais with a five-year partnership to organize its fashion shows. The agreement, unveiled Monday in Paris, will be used to fund a new series of events.

Chanel has increased its budget for the Grand Palais and will spend €30 million on the site over the next five years, €5 million more than the €25 million it spent in the five years before it closed for major renovations.

“The Grand Palais is a beautiful dream machine,” says Chanel fashion president Bruno Pavlovsky, noting that Karl Lagerfeld ’s first shows at the Grand Palais were in 2005.

One of Europe’s greatest architectural gems, the Grand Palais reopened this summer after a three-year closure, just in time for the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. It had two gigantic tiers of seating, and despite its remarkable size, the building was packed to the rafters. The City of Paris had to give special permission to allow 11,000 spectators to cram in, 1,000 more than the usual legal maximum.

“There were so many fans during the judo matches that the people sitting at the top of the stands could touch the glass ceiling,” marveled Didier Fusillier, the president of the Grand Palais, during a tour of the upper galleries.

Since the Games, Chanel has shown its latest ready-to-wear collection at the Grand Palais in September and is preparing to return more regularly: all of the label’s haute couture and ready-to-wear presentations will take place at the Grand Palais by the end of the decade. Its two traveling shows, Métiers d’Art and Croisière, will continue to favor far-flung exotic locations.

The next fashion exhibition at the Grand Palais is Du Cœur à la Main: Dolce & Gabbana , a love letter to Italian culture, the inspiration for this retrospective of the work of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. Commissioned by art historian Florence Muller, it will be on view for twelve weeks starting January 10.

Before that, the Grand Palais will host a giant installation by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota in one of its upper galleries. On the ground floor, workers are busy finishing the preparation of the ice rink, which will be installed for three weeks for the Christmas period.

“We had great discussions with Chanel and Bruno Pavlovsky, who assured us that Chanel could support this whole program. We had practically no money, so none of this would have happened without Chanel’s support,” Didier Fusillier admits during a presentation lunch.

The reopening of the Grand Palais coincides practically with the closure of the Centre Pompidou , whose €400 million renovation is due to begin next September. During the renovation, the Centre Pompidou will organize traveling exhibitions, with the first event focusing on the work of pop culturalist artists Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely and Pontus Hultén at the Grand Palais. Chanel is a patron of this exhibition and of another artistic presentation entitled Art Brut , revisiting this artistic movement through the private collections of Bruno Decharme. The house is also providing financial support to Aux Frontières du Dessin, a huge exhibition of the Centre Pompidou's unique collection of drawings, designed to highlight “the spontaneity of gesture”.

I can already see gigantic beanbag chairs (with Chanel logos, of course) as a set at Grand Palais...

vogue.com/

 

[couturefan]

If the Chanel announcement is on December 16th like Lauren Sherman wrote, when are we getting the announcement of his departure from Bottega?? There isn't much time left.

 

[blueorchid]

I actually feel like if Chanel was smart, they'd pull back from the dramatic presentations at the Grand Palais for a few years, but good luck to them.

 

[Olaffo]

If the Chanel announcement is on December 16th like Lauren Sherman wrote, when are we getting the announcement of his departure from Bottega?? There isn't much time left.

Either they're inking deal with new CD at Bottega and announce departure / new director in one go and then Chanel will announce Blazy or its just gonna be chaos and they will overlap or something. PR is not the Kering's forte as we know...

 

[KoV]

(probably not actually, but wouldn’t that be fun?)

 

[alwaysademo]

...The reopening of the Grand Palais coincides practically with the closure of the Centre Pompidou , whose €400 million renovation is due to begin next September. During the renovation, the Centre Pompidou will organize traveling exhibitions, with the first event focusing on the work of pop culturalist artists Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely and Pontus Hultén at the Grand Palais. Chanel is a patron of this exhibition and of another artistic presentation entitled Art Brut , revisiting this artistic movement through the private collections of Bruno Decharme. The house is also providing financial support to Aux Frontières du Dessin, a huge exhibition of the Centre Pompidou's unique collection of drawings, designed to highlight “the spontaneity of gesture”.

a Niki de Saint Phalle-inspired collection by Blazy sounds perfect for Chanel.

 

[Lola701]

I actually feel like if Chanel was smart, they'd pull back from the dramatic presentations at the Grand Palais for a few years, but good luck to them.

I agree.
I think it adds an unnecessary pressure anyway to have to fill that space.
Karl obviously had a 360 POV ok the way he presented his clothes and so it always made sense but we saw it with the Studio collection that it can look empty so quite poor.

If/When Blazy starts, it will probably be for Couture in July. I wish he starts at Rue Cambon or at Pavillon Cambon or even Le Petit Palais.

We have seen it with Nicolas. I don’t think his clothes works for huge productions because I don’t think it’s part of his design process.

 

[Frederic01]

a Niki de Saint Phalle-inspired collection by Blazy sounds perfect for Chanel.

It was already done at Dior multiple times by Maria Grazia, and pretty well too. The entire Spring Summer 2018 show was inspired by her!

 

[alwaysademo]

It was already done at Dior multiple times by Maria Grazia, and pretty well too. The entire Spring Summer 2018 show was inspired by her!

Well we can be inspired by the same things and have different results, can't we? I will look it up but Niki de Saint Phalle by MGC in any case sounds like Harold & Maud. Blazy's work is more of a kindred spirit to her I think.

 

[Nimsay]

Grets probably has the shrewdest prediction....

Though...

Should they eschew Anna's preferred choice—Marc Jacobs—I hardly anticipate American Vogue offering unreserved endorsement of Chanel's newly appointed creative director. It is conceivable that we may witness critical reviews from prominent publications within our lifetime.

Anna may well seek to reassert her dominance after a decade spent in sycophantic acquiescence. That decade has yielded her little advantage, given the dismal state of Vogue. I dare predict a return to championing obscure New York designers, as she once did in the early 2000s, prior to forsaking them in favor of serving as a proxy for LVMH and Kering.