We aren’t trying to keep you on the edge of your seat, but something special is about to happen. Matthieu Blazy is staging his first-ever Cruise show for Chanel. And that’s not all: the showcase is taking place in the very city that helped raise the Maison: Biarritz.
At the dawn of the last century, the decision to host a show in Biarritz was never left to chance; and it isn’t today, either. Since the Maison’s earliest days, the city has been a vital wellspring of inspiration. In 1915, Gabrielle Chanel established her couture house in Biarritz at the Villa Larralde; echoing the city’s creative energy, she forged the functional, carefree femininity that still defines her designs.
Biarritz has long been a sanctuary for artists who, like the couturière herself, were in search of fresh inspiration. Brimming with artistic fervour, the city became a hub for the Art Deco movement — a style that aligned perfectly with Chanel’s own creative principles. It is the effortless charm and creative ebullience of this Basque coastal town that helped usher in a new era for Chanel, characterised by comfortable, wearable silhouettes and, above all, a functional, ‘uncorseted’ femininity.
In today’s fashion landscape, Matthieu Blazy is tasked with translating the values that unite Chanel and Biarritz. He has already begun this journey with the Cruise show teaser, captured by director and photographer Julien Martinez Leclerc. Through a series of photographs and films, Leclerc employs the poetry of black and white alongside freedom of movement — creative pillars that evoke a sense of nostalgia for Chanel’s heritage.
There is no Chanel as we know it without Biarritz. With Blazy’s upcoming Cruise show on April 28th, the renovation of the Villa Larralde (which will host a pop-up boutique until September 27th), and a new partnership with the Biarritz Film Festival, Chanel’s legacy is being rewritten in the present tense.
