Fashion Designer Matthieu Blazy Has Been Named The New Creative Head At Chanel

After a six-month vacancy, and a busy rumour mill, fashion’s most-coveted and prestigious job has been filled.

Matthieu Blazy has been named as the new creative director of Chanel.

The news comes six months after the resignation of Virginie Viard, a longtime Chanel employee who succeeded Karl Lagerfeld after his death in 2019.

In the time since Viard’s departure, many high-profile designer names have been rumoured to be in the running for what is arguably the most coveted and prestigious job in fashion, among them Marc Jacobs, Hedi Slimane, who recently left Celine, and Simon Porte Jacquemus of Jacquemus.

“Matthieu Blazy is one of the most gifted designers of his generation,” said Alain Wertheimer, Chanel’s global executive chairman, and Leena Nair, global CEO of Chanel, in a statement. “His vision and talent will reinforce the energy of the brand and our position as a leader in luxury. Under Bruno Pavlovsky’s leadership, we are confident that Matthieu Blazy will continue to shape what’s next and write a new page in Chanel’s creation.”

Chanel’s leadership team has taken its time in choosing a successor. While a luxury house cannot be without a creative director indefinitely, they took the wise decision to let the existing studio deliver on collections, and not rush the process.

It was in an interview to mark the label’s Metiers d’Art show in Hangzhou, China, last week, that Bruno Pavlovsky, the French president of fashion at Chanel, gave the strongest indication yet that he and Leena Nair had chosen a successor.

In a Teams interview he told Telegraph head of fashion Lisa Armstrong: “The most important thing is to find someone who can take Chanel to the next level and,” he said, in an oblique reference to the egos and demands of some contenders, “someone who cares about Chanel the brand above themselves.”

Until this week French-Belgian Blazy, 40, was the creative director at Bottega Veneta.

Raised in Paris, he studied at La Cambre in Brussels and his graduate collection landed him a job with Raf Simons.

Blazy went on to work alongside Phoebe Philo at Celine, become design director of women’s ready-to-wear at Calvin Klein, and join Bottega Veneta as design director of ready-to-wear in 2020.

When the house’s then-creative director Daniel Lee left for Burberry in 2021, Blazy succeeded him in the top job.

Blazy is succeeded at Bottega Veneta by Louise Trotter.

The fashion industry has held its breath waiting for the game of musical chairs at the top of the luxury houses to unfold this season. But arguably no appointment is more significant than this, at the house that Mademoiselle Coco built.

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