Bianca Bosatra - Highsnobiety
CHANEL NAMING A$AP ROCKY AS BRAND AMBASSADOR PERFECTLY CAPTURES WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIGH-END FASHION RIGHT NOW
A$AP Rocky is undeniably cool. He has impeccable taste. His style influence is real. But his partnership with Chanel feels hollow—a symptom of luxury fashion's growing identity crisis.
Here's what's troubling: Chanel doesn't have a menswear line. They've made that clear. Yet they're appointing a male rapper as ambassador whose partner, Rihanna, is literally the face of
Parfums Christian Dior. Rocky sells merch with AWGE and releases collaborations with
PUMA Group—distressed sneakers, racing-inspired graphics, mass-market streetwear plays. So why is Chanel, a house built on exclusivity, craftsmanship, and feminine codes, associating with this? There's no authentic connection between Rocky's creative output and Chanel's heritage. It reads as pure hype-chasing.
The recent campaign shows Rocky chasing Margaret Qualley through NYC to propose with a Chanel ring. It's visually polished but narratively empty. Why does this story matter? What does it say about Chanel? Nothing. It's spectacle without substance—much like the partnership itself.
No one doubts Matthieu Blazy's technical brilliance. His October debut was masterfully crafted—the industry gave him a standing ovation. But beautiful clothes aren't enough anymore. Where's the emotional connection? The cultural point of view? The story that makes people believe in something beyond the product? Blazy inherited a confused brand strategy. Chanel is simultaneously chasing hype through ambassadors like Rocky while maintaining haute couture prestige. They're targeting youth culture but designing for legacy clients. They're pushing commercial revenue goals while claiming artistic integrity. The vision is muddled.
And Chanel isn't alone. Across luxury fashion, brands are collapsing into the same aesthetic: the upper-class woman with taste, the gender-fluid influencer, the celebrity ambassador seeding product. Everyone claims the same customer. Everyone deploys the same playbook.
Miu Miu cracked a code and suddenly every brand wants that customer, that sensibility, that cultural cache. But when everyone plays the same game, luxury loses its meaning. Distinction disappears. And we're left with beautifully made clothes that inspire nothing.
What luxury fashion desperately needs: Less obsession with hype. Less celebrity seeding for short-term noise. More courage to build long-term brand worlds with clear creative direction. More willingness to alienate the wrong audience to deeply connect with the right one. More focus on why the brand exists beyond driving revenue. Fashion used to create culture. Now it just reflects it back, hoping for virality.
If Chanel can't articulate why Rocky belongs in their universe beyond "he's cool and famous," then the partnership is just another symptom of an industry that's forgotten how to tell stories that matter.
as he is 10 out of 10 and a fashion hero and loved by every one that matters.
