K-pop stars Keonho of Cortis, Wonhee of Illit join Chanel’s star-studded front row
Chanel's signature tweed suits and a return to the knee-length skirt anchored the French house's spring-summer 2027 collection, unveiled at the Grand Palais in Paris on Monday.
The show marked one year since artistic director Matthieu Blazy's debut at Chanel. While the lineup leaned on the house's classic tweeds, Blazy wove in modern twists throughout, loosening, sheering and reprinting the fabric most closely tied to the brand.
Tweed was opened up into a wide windowpane print with mesh panels or reworked in a red-and-white tiger print. Skirt suits also came in sheer cream or black fabric embroidered with flowers and beads, while the postwar Chanel suit was reimagined as a "second skin" worn lightly against bare skin.
The finale introduced "Smocked Tweed," a new stretch silk designed for ease of movement.
Knee-length skirts, which have been making a strong comeback across the spring-summer 2027 shows, were also featured as pencil skirt suits and skirts with swinging panels.
Behind the silhouettes was a story about the house's founder. Titled "La Conversation — Part Three — Different Faces of the Same Coin," the collection was the third chapter in Blazy's ongoing dialogue between the Chanel brand and Gabrielle Chanel.
Blazy built the season around the idea that a woman becomes many versions of herself over a lifetime. Rather than re-creating history, the collection followed the young Gabrielle as she evolved into different "Chanel women," with each earlier identity leaving traces on the next.
"It's a collection about Gabrielle Chanel's layered stories. Ultimately, Chanel took off, and each step she took led to her being free, like a bird," Blazy said in his show notes.
Birds, chosen as symbols of freedom, could be spotted throughout the entire collection. Swifts and swallows appeared as buttons, jewelry and embroidery.
Accessories carried the same story. The opening look featured Gabrielle Chanel's own 2.55 bag from the house's Patrimoine archive, carried again by the same model in the finale. A new classic flap bag came with a watch-chain closure, alongside a "Cloud Bag" and a Birdcage Minaudiere showing birds escaping their cage. Two-tone pumps appeared in leopard and tiger print with cream toes, as well as in baby blue and silver.
Lagos-based model and content creator Rachel Ojuromi made her Chanel runway debut during the show. She rose to fashion fame through viral TikTok and Instagram videos in which she and her best friend, designer and stylist Debby Fasingha, turn the streets of the Nigerian city into a runway, styling looks from Nigerian labels, her own wardrobe and thrifted finds from Lagos' Yaba market.
K-pop stars Keonho of Cortis and Wonhee of Illit were among the front-row guests.
"The way the building, the music and the clothes all fit together was beautiful, and it felt like watching a movie. I want to tell Blazy today that the show was great," Keonho said.
Wonhee, attending her first Chanel show in Paris, said, "Every detail got prettier the closer I looked. The looks with floral accents were especially charming."
Dua Lipa, Nicole Kidman and Pedro Pascal also attended.
Paris Fashion Week closed Tuesday, with shows including Louis Vuitton.
yoohong@heraldcorp.com
