Matthieu Blazy - Designer, Creative Director of Chanel

[psychopsist]

Discussing smiling as this alien “gimmick” which no one in real life does is sooo funny sorry. Imagining some of you flipping through yearbook photos or at baby showers and going “wow what a bunch of cheesy good for nothing frauds”😹😹lighten up!

Like, if I tell my little cousin “say cheese” at his birthday party, that makes it “fake”? Perhaps if he was sobbing a minute before but otherwise not really imo. I know it’s a show and it’s marketing but they are humans lol. It seems like the deadest of ends to approach this topic as some deep industry secret that “sometimes people smile and laugh and pout on purpose to intentionally communicate something to onlookers.” Duhhhh. Let’s unpack how “nobody actually walks like that” next lmao.

That in mind, smiling & laughter are still quite “easy”/reflexive and many people do them too many times to count per day. We all laugh reading each others replies but being a closer of a big show couldn’t give you a reason to feel genuine joy? Ridiculous. I bet Awar smiled a hundred plus times that day! I giggled writing this! Life is fun sometimes and some people are cheerful in temperament.

Anywaysss yes most of the pics from this latest are very mundane but I do like the ones with everyone leaning in and sm*l*ng☺️💗reminds me of the Versace below. kisses!

 

[Avonlea]

Back when models looked like grown confident women and not awkward teenagers. I miss those times.

 

[thegentlemanboyfriend]

Discussing smiling as this alien “gimmick” which no one in real life does is sooo funny sorry. Imagining some of you flipping through yearbook photos or at baby showers and going “wow what a bunch of cheesy good for nothing frauds”😹😹lighten up!

Like, if I tell my little cousin “say cheese” at his birthday party, that makes it “fake”? Perhaps if he was sobbing a minute before but otherwise not really imo. I know it’s a show and it’s marketing but they are humans lol. It seems like the deadest of ends to approach this topic as some deep industry secret that “sometimes people smile and laugh and pout on purpose to intentionally communicate something to onlookers.” Duhhhh. Let’s unpack how “nobody actually walks like that” next lmao.

That in mind, smiling & laughter are still quite “easy”/reflexive and many people do them too many times to count per day. We all laugh reading each others replies but being a closer of a big show couldn’t give you a reason to feel genuine joy? Ridiculous. I bet Awar smiled a hundred plus times that day! I giggled writing this! Life is fun sometimes and some people are cheerful in temperament.

Anywaysss yes most of the pics from this latest are very mundane but I do like the ones with everyone leaning in and sm*l*ng☺️💗reminds me of the Versace below. kisses!

View attachment 1423723

Right? Like god forbid models having fun for once even if there’s an element of marketing lol This kind of discussion frankly says more about the cynics than Chanel.

 

[psychopsist]

Right? Like god forbid models having fun for once even if there’s an element of marketing lol This kind of discussion frankly says more about the cynics than Chanel.

I’m not even defending Chanel per se, like they don’t need any defense. Just feels odd to present the idea of models(or anyone on stage, or part of a broadcast, celebratory event, etc) smiling and laughing as being an oh so newfangled trick, choreographed or not. Like, have you ever seen a toothpaste commercial? It’s #beendone, on the runway and everywhere else too!

P.s. the “I do” kiss at a wedding isn’t exactly spontaneous either loool. 😹

 

[Hchloe]

Discussing smiling as this alien “gimmick” which no one in real life does is sooo funny sorry. Imagining some of you flipping through yearbook photos or at baby showers and going “wow what a bunch of cheesy good for nothing frauds”😹😹lighten up!

Like, if I tell my little cousin “say cheese” at his birthday party, that makes it “fake”? Perhaps if he was sobbing a minute before but otherwise not really imo. I know it’s a show and it’s marketing but they are humans lol. It seems like the deadest of ends to approach this topic as some deep industry secret that “sometimes people smile and laugh and pout on purpose to intentionally communicate something to onlookers.” Duhhhh. Let’s unpack how “nobody actually walks like that” next lmao.

That in mind, smiling & laughter are still quite “easy”/reflexive and many people do them too many times to count per day. We all laugh reading each others replies but being a closer of a big show couldn’t give you a reason to feel genuine joy? Ridiculous. I bet Awar smiled a hundred plus times that day! I giggled writing this! Life is fun sometimes and some people are cheerful in temperament.

Anywaysss yes most of the pics from this latest are very mundane but I do like the ones with everyone leaning in and sm*l*ng☺️💗reminds me of the Versace below. kisses!

View attachment 1423723

Thank you! This whole discussion is so bizarre.

 

[psychopsist]

I’m glad I’m not alone lol. Hope everyone has a great day😽

 

[Nimsay]

This is fashion - everything is treated with total seriousness, and that’s exactly why normies think it’s absurd.

I didn’t even notice the smiling or the ’90s nods at first. The clothes just look terrible all lined up like that - especially those awful shoes. They should’ve spaced the looks out more; it’s visually jarring…

IIRC the classic Chanel lineup shots are all the same look in different colors so it makes sense. Having a bunch of different looks lined up is a mess. Hedi wouldnt have made that mistake.

 

[Grets]

Yeah the creative direction of this new era is too scattered yet has this air of trying to be minimal or universal but there lacks continuity. Honestly, its giving Sabato de Sarno and the clients sense it too.

 

[Darko]

Zaraesque that's the word and whole concept of this last Chanel show
But everything is beyond mediocre in this decade
Really mediocre and predictable and tbh looks cheap
So tbh Matthieu is so overhyped
And about that headpiece
Jay Kay from Jamiroquai wore it better ages before

 

[Caffeine]

“Fashion has become a joke. It’s all about money. The major companies of fashion, they’re like kids playing soccer, just running after the ball. They’re not thinking about their customers. I just think they have too much money, so they don’t need to work hard. Money is always floating on them.”

"There’s little doubt the sharp downturn in demand for some of the world’s largest and most prestigious luxury houses is, in part, the product of what some analysts have called “greedflation” as brands sought to juice profits with punchy price hikes while under-delivering on creative innovation and quality."

- Yohji Yamamoto in BoF interview

 

[Nimsay]

I think Hermès quietly ran everyone else off a cliff. They signaled major price hikes, so the rest of the industry braced for impact - everyone assumed the Birkin 35 was about to hit $20K retail.

But when Hermès only raised prices modestly, the others had already gone all in. Now that Hermès has stopped the music, Louis Vuitton and Dior are left standing there with some prices that look absurd next to Hermès. Their latest fall mens bag line has really aggressive pricing with mostly everything under 3500.

Birkin bags have always been the king of price. 11k for a Birkin 35 that will last 15 years looking new is hard to compete with.

 

[Lola701]

I think Hermès quietly ran everyone else off a cliff. They signaled major price hikes, so the rest of the industry braced for impact - everyone assumed the Birkin 35 was about to hit $20K retail.

But when Hermès only raised prices modestly, the others had already gone all in. Now that Hermès has stopped the music, Louis Vuitton and Dior are left standing there with some prices that look absurd next to Hermès. Their latest fall mens bag line has really aggressive pricing with mostly everything under 3500.

Birkin bags have always been the king of price. 11k for a Birkin 35 that will last 15 years looking new is hard to compete with.

I think that the Hermes correlation is the basic thing luxury analysts likes to throw when indeed it’s not so much about it.

At Chanel, they were just greedy. It has nothing to do with Hermes. And as Dior has always followed Chanel they just followed.

Chanel got away with a lot once they realized that clients weren’t afraid to spend year after year, price increases after price increases.

The high ticket at Chanel was always RTW and Couture and they were spoiled because in the past decades, clients bought as much RTW as bags.

Hermes has that card of exotics and special editions that they can pull as they like to sell bags at an outrageous price. And they have the luxury of not being a fashion brand, that allows them to be slightly off of the conversation.

Chanel is and was always the Crème de la crème of fashion but greed, not the competition with Hermes, made them crazy.
The price increases at Chanel made a lot of news for the bags but it was accross all categories.
I bought a tweed down jacket from the Paris Cosmopolite (Ritz) collection. It was 6500€. Today the same kind of piece would probably cost me min 10K.

What is even crazy with Chanel is that it’s a private company so they have more leverage and freedom than everybody else in the industry. They are in a better position than Hermes, LVMH, Kering and Richemont reunited. But they followed a logic that seemed motivated by the market when in fact, they can afford to cope with much more things than anybody else.

As we are in the Matthieu and not Chanel thread, I hope that they will take this opportunity to really re-think their model.

I know that they have been selling less Classique and 2.55 and it’s not so bad. They have trendy and less expensive bags that are doing the job.

Hermes is in a different stage. For years, their business dependent on the sales of the Carrés. Now their business depend on the sales of two bags. Yes the « Hermes game » created in boutiques allows them to perform well in all categories but they have to think beyond those two bags. But it’s almost an easy game for them.