The response to Chanel’s Spring/Summer 2027 ready-to-wear show at the Grand Palais in Paris was largely favorable as Matthieu Blazy attempts to reset this global luxury brand and appeal to the next generation of aspirational and luxury shoppers. Fashion journalists have been hugely supportive, while opinions among bloggers are a bit more diverse. Chanel’s significant marketing support is working to create, leverage, and build Blazymania momentum. Of course, what really matters is sales.
Why is Matthieu Blazy stirring up the fashion world? And the answer is: He is refreshing Chanel with a modern vibe and a distinctly next gen cool factor.
Blazymania Inflation
I, for one, am confounded by the response to Blazy. Watching the Chanel fashion show (on YouTube), I see his beautiful fabrics on impossible-to-wear silhouettes; if ultra-slim next gens can afford the de rigueur hip-hugging, low-riding skirts paired with architectural bra tops, more power to them. Loved the nod to Coco Chanel with her own handbag brought out from the archives for the runway opening and closing, but the variety of other handbags were almost mirror images of other luxury brands, begging the question: Why buy a Chanel that looks like a Balenciaga when I can buy a Tory Burch that looks like a Chanel?
Fashion journalists generally applauded Blazy’s efforts at innovation and freshness. But who will really be buying and wearing Chanel? The influencers on the runway? The celebrities in the front row? Chanel’s marketing acumen is top notch, but marketing has to transform awareness and attention to conversion.
There is another force at play: Buy and flip. Blazymania has created FOMO: People with access purchase, but not necessarily because of brand love or product desire. They put these coveted items on luxury resale sites at prices that exceed the purchase price. Seriously, how long can this transactional behavior last?
It’s complicated. When bags trade above boutique prices, it’s a gamification ruse. According to Glossy, luxury reseller Fashionphile paid sellers 15 percent above retail for the Urban Essential (original price, $9,495 to $9,950 ) and 13 percent above retail for the Souplissimo (original price $6000 to $9600) and Archetype Tote (starting at $7,300), likely with the expectation that they could tack an additional 10-20 percent onto the price offered to resale customers.
Value Equations
At what point did consumers stop valuing luxury products simply for the intrinsic value of their design, beauty, craftsmanship, and touch, and begin to be driven by the resale value? The traditional value equation for luxury products is pretty straightforward:
- Reward: I love it and can’t live without it
- Entitlement: Luxury is my necessity
- Aspiration: Others see that I can afford it
- Posterity: Gifting it to my family or donating to a charitable institution
- Pragmatism: Getting a tax write-off
Add to the list: resale value. Buy it intentionally to flip it for more than the acquisition price. The problem is that anything other than love and desire undermines brand equity and reputation. Luxury shoppers buy their way into a dream; resale economics erode that dream.
There is also the existential question of whether scarcity reinforces genuine value or undermines it with instant resale. Consider Tulipmania that mesmerized Holland in 1636, as enthusiasm for tulips drove up valuations of tulip bulbs irrationally beyond anything tethered to reality. Blazymania may end up no more than a cauldron of mutually reinforcing anticipation, excitement, and trendiness rather than proof of innovation and exceptional originality.
Brand Renaissance or Arbitrage?
Chanel just dropped from its vaulted perch atop the LYST Q3-2026 Index of the hottest brands based on desire, demand, and discovery to #2; Prada jumped 55 percent, catapulting it to 1st place. Blazymania may be Chanel’s bet to reascend the pedestal.
There is a lot of flux in the luxury sector with other talented designers recently placed at the helm who are attempting to execute brand renewals. They are largely ignored, despite their innovative designs: Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta, Maria Grazia Chiuri at Fendi, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe, and Rachel Scott at Proenza Schouler. There are lots of musical chairs, yet Blazy is sucking all the oxygen out of the room. He just received the fashion honor at the 2026 WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards, presented by Chanel ambassador Dua Lipa. This is influencer marketing 101.
The Financial Reveal
On August 4, a week after Hermes and LVMH reported lackluster six-month financial results, Bloomberg reported Chanel’s comparable revenue rose approximately 16 percent in the first half. Fashion division sales (which includes bags and footwear and represent about 60 percent of total) reportedly grew by a similar percentage. The company normally releases its annual results in May of the following year. Was this a faux pas or a suspicious way to rally stakeholders and the market to show Blazy isimproving the financials?
Chanel’s owners, the Wertheimer brothers, Alain and Gerard, are getting on in years and must be thinking of succession, which might explain appointing Leena Nair CEO of Chanel in 2022. She has no fashion experience but has a deep acumen in HR and social commitments, previously working at Unilever for gender parity and living wages across its supply chain as chief human resources officer. She has identified sustainability, exclusivity, and gender equality as priorities.
In tandem with the hiring of Matthieu Blazy in late 2024, the Wertheimers altered the complexion of its board (they say to improve independence), bringing on three new directors with expertise in public and private markets. The recent departure of Bruno Pavlovsky, head of Chanel’s fashion group, from the board increases board independence.
Spoiler alert: Is a transaction on the horizon? This would make Blazy part of an attractive, on-trend package to drive buzz and financial interest.
