Matthieu Blazy - Designer, Creative Director of Chanel

[JohannesL]

If there's anything Karl and Hedi have in common, it is definitely not in terms of talent but more about their diva personalities. P.S. Karl has joked about Jeremy Scott succeeding him, but I doubt fashion people would take it serious. Matt is everything Chanel management didn't want what Hedi standing for.

 

[Creative]

If there's anything Karl and Hedi have in common, it is definitely not in terms of talent but more about their diva personalities. P.S. Karl has joked about Jeremy Scott succeeding him, but I doubt fashion people would take it serious. Matt is everything Chanel management didn't want what Hedi standing for.

While I agree with Tim, this is so true. We live in a world where the Chanel designer posts his first day at his new job on Instagram like he was the most basic human on Earth. There’s zero magic. Only Tom, Miu, Theyskens, Hedi and Phoebe still have that aura.

And in this zero magic world Hedi doesn’t suit. I bet he won’t be designing for any other brand ever again. He is not a fave of mine in terms of fashion design, but as Tim said he is grand. He has a personality. I believe in this woke world we live in are missing personalities. Although maybe the fact that we live in a woke world is what is making those personalities disappear and not be front row anymore.

I feel MB is a little puppet with no strong POV, at least that’s what he has demonstrated so far. Maybe he surprises everyone, who knows, but I don’t know if you can expect much from someone that uses Instagram a la Sabato de Sarno dies of cringe

On another note, the way Marc uses IG is different. That’s something more pop/Warholian. Even if it’s not even funny, but he’s trying to be. I think craving for attention is a little bit better when you are obvious about it.

Anyways, only time will tell. I’m curious to know how his Chanel will look like. I’m afraid there won’t be any drastic change.

 

[PDFSD]

Honestly, I am still in profound disbelief. Hedi, the one true heir closest to a living Karl (along with TF), didn’t get the Chanel job. He did everything right, with a stellar track record and memorable fashion moments, yet in the end, he lost the battle. Despite all his efforts, he was not chosen.

He isn't even one of my top ten favorite designers, yet I feel a sense of injustice for him forever. I wish I could have a remote to fast-forward through the next five trashy years to come.

there is still time:
What is hired can be fired :-)

lol lets see how it goes ...we might be one year from now reading comments like give him more time it will get better lol
you never know he might even make you fall in love with his version of Chanel and 10000 of ideas at once on repeat :-)

 

[Creative]

At Chanel you need an image maker and MB is everything but an image maker. I still don’t know what his Bottega was all about, even if I like some pieces and some accessories. I think of Bottega today and I think of Daniel Lee, I feel MB only added a little bit more craft and earthy tones.

Even at YSL I can tell the difference between Hedi and Vaccarello, who’s probably one of the most insipid designers.

At Chanel a sort of a graphic impact is needed in every show because they have sooo many offerings. And to me, just with two shows per year, his BV totally blurs and I can’t strongly remember any of them.

 

[JohannesL]

Matt is a basic designer. I think Karl had an eye for talent when he joked about Jeremy Scott succeeding him since his Moschino always had the tricks/themes similar to Karl's Chanel. I think Anthony knows how to put on a good show and so does Demna but Matt is just not one of those showmen.

 

[proseccotabis]

I cant help but wonder....- what would KL say about Blazy's appointment at Chanel? Like many of us here, I don't automatically associate him with an incredible charisma or talent and I truly believe that he just happened to be at the right place at the right time sort of thing. He was a gray cardinal at Bottega as Daniels no 2 and always had endless ambitions to replace him ( surprise surprise?)
Maybe i am biased because of our discussions here or because i never liked Blazys take on what Bottega can be. afterall, he turned it into a pseudo, pretentious copy-paste of Hermes with an addition of bows, butterflies and leather flowers for 8k$. Yes we havent seen his work at Chanel just yet but lets be honest here no designer can radically change the way they work and view fashion regardless of the maison they join. I am a true believer that his Chanel will be a prolongation of what he did at bv, whatever that might be. ok he has brownie points because he has french belgian and understands the mentality and the style etc etc but my take is his chanel will be a variations on a theme of what he was copying from DL doing at BV recently. i will be super happy to be proven wrong. but again maybe i am biased because i was a very typical Daniel Lee's Bottega customer and didnt take the changes on the corporate and creative side well.
also shall we expect massive changes to the Chanel store design? as we know it was Blazys initiative to revamp the store design and perception of what the typical bv store can be. i am expecting the same inputs from him at chanel quite naturally.

 

[JohannesL]

Based on his resume, he clearly proves that he has the savior faire of climbing the corporate ladder. Unlike some well-known divas, he seems to be a good corporate employee who will work well with the management. As long as Chanel sells, they would keep him like MGC's tenure at Dior and kick him out when customers get exhausted. I think Chanel clients would have high expectations for him to bring back Karl 's magic and fireworks after Virginie's lackluster tenure, so he'd better not disappoint them.

 

[Norden]

Blazy is not a bad designer, and he definitely has more range than what he did at BV. His margiela was nice and had some luster to it.

The problem with him is that there’s a lack of opinion on dressing and women. He exemplifies this time by hiding behind craft and styling to what are essentially cos clothes with an astronomical budget.

I’m sure his Chanel will be serviceable, but the idea of having a person with character and allure like hedi is infinitely more appealing to me than this genericness all these new designers have.

I loathe that they’re all into the same art and design. It’s all so blurred. Say what you will about the tackiness of the Balmain guy, atleast its his own thing.

Blazy’s own thing is boring, and it’s sad that Chanel has to become so boring. God I miss Karl - how lucky we’ve been to see him do his thing.

 

[99 Percent Polyester]

I'm not saying it'll happen, but it would be funny if Blazy pulled a Sabato.

 

[KilltheLook]

There was and will always be one KL (and same for YSL)... Fashion is no longer what it used to be (it went from products created for the fashionistas into a derivative of the pop landscape). In a sense, the democratization of high fashion is what really kills its allure.

MB can never be compared to KL, but he's the fine fit for the Chanel of now (cropped tweed jackets, logomania, clothes for the Tik Tok generation).

 

[helmutnotdead]

some people here needs to get out and touch some grass asap

 

[blueorchid]

There was and will always be one KL (and same for YSL)... Fashion is no longer what it used to be (it went from products created for the fashionistas into a derivative of the pop landscape). In a sense, the democratization of high fashion is what really kills its allure.

You could always say this about fashion. I’m sure there were plenty of reactionaries who thought designers we now view as geniuses as not fit to cut patterns for Vionnet, Balenciaga, Chanel herself, etc. And that THEY weren’t as good as Worth or Poirot. In short… the present is never as good as the past.

 

[NYLA22]

Honestly, I am still in profound disbelief. Hedi, the one true heir closest to a living Karl (along with TF), didn’t get the Chanel job. He did everything right, with a stellar track record and memorable fashion moments, yet in the end, he lost the battle. Despite all his efforts, he was not chosen.

I can't remember where I read this rumor (maybe Line Sheet?) but it said that Hedi was asking for an absurd pay package for Chanel...like $40 million or something, which kicked him out of the running. I figure it must be a false rumor, because I can't imagine any designer has or ever will make that amount, so how could one expect such a figure? (Someone correct me if I'm wrong!). For comparison, the rumor is Blazy is making $5 million.

 

[proseccotabis]

Blazy is making $5 million.

id easily believe this..i cant see him leaving BV for any other reasons lol

 

[Creative]

I cant help but wonder....- what would KL say about Blazy's appointment at Chanel?

Interesting question, but easy answer: he would’ve hated Blazy. Karl was all about honesty, easiness, lightness, unpretentiousness, “non-intellectualism”…

This guy is a Raf in disguise. And don’t get me wrong, I do like some of his products, but he is basic and pretentious as far as I can see.

 

[Lola701]

I cant help but wonder....- what would KL say about Blazy's appointment at Chanel? Like many of us here, I don't automatically associate him with an incredible charisma or talent and I truly believe that he just happened to be at the right place at the right time sort of thing.

I suspect he may have liked him. Karl loved French people and Blazy is still quite imo a typical French guy.
I think there’s a disconnect between the perception of Blazy’s work, the reality of his work, the perception of his personality and the reality of his personality.
He does comes across as someone likeable and I’m sure he will be liked by the premiere and the atelier. Those were important things for Karl.

As for fashion, I don’t know. Karl liked Phoebe at Celine, JWA at Loewe. Blazy is in that world and he worked for Celine. Should we assume that he would have loved his work? RAF was invited to Chanel shows. I remember I saw him at the Carroussel show but at that time he wasn’t the huge star he became later at JS. And it’s known around Paris that Karl had dinners with RAF.
But then, Karl was quite welcoming of designers and was known to sending flowers, organizing dinners or finding ways to get to know them.

But I remember Karl talking his hate for intellectual designers. I have always though that it was about designers having a public persona than a perception of an aesthetic. He loved CDG and Miuccia. They are perceived as intellectuals by a lot of people.

 

[JohannesL]

I think there's a difference between "like the designer at a different brand" and "like the designer succeeding him at Chanel". I remember Jeremy and Haider has been named successors but not sure if Hedi also made the cut.

 

[blueorchid]

But I remember Karl talking his hate for intellectual designers. I have always though that it was about designers having a public persona than a perception of an aesthetic. He loved CDG and Miuccia. They are perceived as intellectuals by a lot of people.

Yes, this is how I've always interpreted those comments as well. LOL and his comments about designers being draped in ermine and reading Proust... well, they're obviously about a specific designer. I don't even think people really understand what they're complaining about when they discuss "intellectual" fashion, it's almost as meaningless and as contradictory as people complaining about the "democratization" of fashion.

 

[Creative]

Miuccia and Rei do not act like classic intellectuals while giving interviews or writing press notes. They don’t want to impress you. Karl was a total intellectual yet he had that lightness. Its not about actual intellectualism, more about pretentious intellectualism on the approach to design, being heavy handed, intense and a bore, talking about how much time a piece takes to craft, about the pain of the process…

Raf does that, for instance, and I’m sure Karl didn’t like him for that. MGC does that too and has the depth of a tiny pond in the street.

Anyways, Miuccia an Rei are geniouses. Matthieu is a nobody.

 

[blueorchid]

With all due respect, does it actually MATTER if Karl would like Blazy or not? It's not like he/Chanel seemed to care enough to have proper "succession" plans after his death.

I don't even know why we're supposed to hate him before he's shown a collection anymore... because he's an "intellectual"? Okay.