How Matthieu Blazy made Gen Z and millennials buy into the new Chanel

This week, Parisian fashion house Chanel reported a 2% rise in revenue in 2025 in currency-adjusted terms to $19.3 billion. Chanel's revenue had declined 4.3% in 2024 and luxury fashion in general has been navigating one of its most challenging periods in recent years. Rising prices, slowing global demand, and changing consumer habits have pushed even the biggest maisons to rethink their strategies.

Chanel rebounds as Matthieu Blazy’s quiet luxury vision strikes a chord

Yet amid this uncertain climate, Chanel has managed to regain momentum under the influence of designer Matthieu Blazy who took over from Virginie Viard last year and presented his first collection in October. Viard was a longtime deputy of Karl Lagerfeld, while Blazy is most closely associated with his critically acclaimed work at Bottega Veneta

Fashion insiders heralded his appointment as Chanel's new chapter, one that is more opening to newness and change. Blazy's design philosophy and broader impact on luxury fashion have reshaped what affluent shoppers now expect from heritage brands.

“Matthieu became an obvious choice for the brand as we came to understand his talent, his personality, his groundedness, his culture,” Chanel’s fashion president Bruno Pavlovsky said in an interview ahead of the announcement. “The interview process was truly inspiring as we grew to know him: his vision for creation, his modernity, his respect for and commitment to products and the women who surround and inspire him.”

“We didn’t choose Matthieu to just ‘do Chanel,’ we chose him so he could push the boundaries of what Chanel is, for the future,” Pavlovsky said. “He will bring his modernity, his way of working — Chanel is ready to let itself be transported.”

Chanel's operating profit also grew 5% to hit $4.7 billion, up from $4.5 billion in 2024 but lower than its level in 2021 to 2023.

What Blazy gets right about quiet luxury

One of the biggest shifts driven by Blazy’s aesthetic has been the move away from overt logo-heavy fashion toward subtle luxury rooted in craftsmanship, with designs such as ​the slouchy leather "maxi flapbag", retailing for $8,500, and modernist versions of the classic Chanel tweed jacket.

Younger high-income shoppers are now more interested in pieces that feel timeless rather than trend-driven.

Blazy’s work became famous for turning everyday wardrobe staples into objects of desire. His leather jeans that looked like denim, sculptural tailoring, and ultra-refined knitwear celebrated artisanal skill instead of flashy branding. That approach resonated strongly with consumers tired of conspicuous luxury.

Rather than sticking to traditional, structured weaves, Blazy introduced hybrid fabrications. He integrated unexpected elements, from subtle leather micro-weaves to fluid, technical threads, that give the classic fabric an entirely new physical movement. By loosening the silhouettes and introducing ergonomic tailoring, Blazy has transformed a garment once perceived as strictly formal into a fluid, everyday statement piece.

In Bottega too Blazy’s greatest strength was how he modernised Bottega’s luxury identity, while keeping the heritage intact.

What does an artistic director do at Chanel

It's broadly known that Chanel’s artistic director is responsible for overseeing six runway presentations annually, which span ready-to-wear and haute couture, alongside red carpet dressing and a vast range of commercial offerings, from $500 hair accessories to handbags priced upwards of $10,000, including seasonal ski and beach capsules.

The role also traditionally involves shaping the brand’s visual identity and marketing strategy. Karl Lagerfeld famously photographed many of Chanel’s campaigns himself, while Virginie Viard collaborated closely with photography duo Inez and Vinoodh to introduce a fresher and more varied aesthetic to the house’s imagery.

“There’s an important collective dimension to what we do at Chanel,” Pavlovsky said. “Matthieu stays true to his own strong, seductive personality — he will bring his exceptionalism to the brand — but at the same time he has a real vision of the collective. We never stopped speaking about the teams."

Chanel’s revenues climbed sharply in the years following the coronavirus pandemic as the luxury market experienced a major boom. In 2023, the company posted revenues of $19.7 billion, an increase of more than 75 percent over the previous five years. At the same time, prices rose significantly, turning the once nearly untouchable fashion house into a frequent subject of criticism, as more and more consumers questioning whether product quality matched the steep increases.

When Blazy took up this job, he faced the task of pushing Chanel’s creative identity forward while continuing to deliver products that feel both aspirational and practical enough for customers to justify the high price tags.

What Blazy delivered at Chanel

When Blazy's first collection landed in stores in March shoppers made a beeline for the new handbags, two-tone pumps in mint green and black for $1,450, and multicoloured tweed jackets.

“The ​recruitment of new clients – who hadn’t previously bought Chanel - has been phenomenal," Simon Longland, director of fashion buying at high-end department store Harrods in London, told Reuters in an interview.

“The demand has far outstripped supply, correctly so on some of the special pieces because, while there may be people disappointed they don't have the jacket they wanted, if everyone who wanted the jacket had got ​it, they would all be arriving somewhere in the same jacket," Longland added.

Chanel's 2025 growth rate was slower than rival Hermes, which grew sales 9.8% to 16 billion ​euros, but better than LVMH's fashion and leather goods division (including Louis Vuitton and Dior), which declined 5% to 37.77 billion euros.

Blazy has long been a champion of what fashion critics call "stealth craftsmanship", the art of creating garments that look disarmingly casual at a glance but reveal mind-blowing technical artistry upon closer inspection.

At Chanel, this design philosophy has manifest as a powerful antidote to logomania. New-generation luxury consumers are increasingly fatigued by overt, loud branding.

This deliberate juxtaposition of high-craft heritage and street-level nonchalance creates a visual tension that resonates strongly on social media and captures the attention of high-net-worth Gen Z and Millennial buyers.