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Critics Tie Blazy's Chanel With Dior in Spring 2027 Ranking
By @sharedot · · 7 pages
- Fashion
- Chanel
- Matthieu Blazy
- Spring 2027
- Paris Fashion Week
The Impression ranks Matthieu Blazy's Chanel joint-second for Spring 2027 at 9.5, matching Jonathan Anderson's Dior behind only Prada.
Chanel Lands at the Top of the Season's Scorecard
The Impression has placed Matthieu Blazy's Chanel Spring/Summer 2027 show joint-second in its ranking of the season's top ten collections, awarding it a review score of 9.5 — the same mark given to Jonathan Anderson's Dior. Only Prada, scored 9.5 by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, finished ahead of them. Editor-in-Chief Kenneth Richard writes that Blazy "matched Dior with an equally complete world of his own," praising softened construction, raw edges, extraordinary materials, and accessories that carried "the same intelligence and desire as the clothes." For a designer just one year into his Chanel tenure, a place beside Dior on the season's consensus scorecard is the strongest critical verdict yet on where the house is heading.
A Show Built as a Timeline, Not a Recreation
ELLE Canada's Matthew Velasco, who reviewed the Grand Palais show on October 7, 2026, reports that Blazy conceived the collection as a timeline — not to re-create the house's past but to reveal its layers. The opening look was a sheer white slip dress with a rosette at the bust, paired with a vintage 2.55, evoking Gabrielle Chanel's beginnings as a seamstress. Drop-waist skirts in bouclé and wool nodded to the house's lowered waist, reassembled with going-out tops and embroidered jackets — what Blazy called "Chanel-ized." The Impression's editors say this depth of imagination is exactly what made Chanel's "most famous codes feel exciting all over again."
Birds Over the Grand Palais
According to ELLE Canada, the show's clearest image came overhead: an illuminated flock of swifts and swallows crossing the Grand Palais ceiling, inspired by the migratory birds Blazy watches in Calabria. He tied them to Gabrielle Chanel's own journey, telling the magazine, "Ultimately, Chanel took off, and each step she took led to her being free, like a bird." The closing look, worn by Anok Yai, was a constellation-print dress in a quartet of looks tracing the sky from dawn through night. A closing mash-up of Britney Spears's "Gimme More" sent guests including Dua Lipa, Nicole Kidman, and Ayo Edebiri out with a smile, per ELLE Canada.
Why the Verdict Is a Reversal
The ranking suggests a season shift: The Impression notes that designers settling into new houses — Blazy at Chanel, Jonathan Anderson at Dior, Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta, Julian Klausner at Dries Van Noten — dominated the top of the field, with the strongest shows defined by "a clear sense of authorship." Bottega Veneta tied Marni for third at 9.4, while Celine, Tom Ford, Miu Miu, Saint Laurent, Fendi, and Simone Rocha filled out the ten at 9.3. For Chanel specifically, being judged on equal critical footing with Dior — its historic rival — marks a notable reversal after a period when the house's direction under a new artistic director was the open question of fashion month.
Where Chanel Sits in the Season's Trends
ELLE's trend roundup of the Paris shows reports that Blazy's Chanel "made tweed feel almost weightless" and contributed whisper-thin slips to the season's sheer-dressing theme, alongside lightweight checked "tweed" and embellished mules echoing Sofia Coppola's restored Marie Antoinette. The Impression frames the stakes plainly: the collections that will be remembered are "the ones that made us want the clothes after the lights came back on."