The French luxury house Chanel held an extraordinary fashion show in New York City on Tuesday, December 2, 2025, where new Creative Director Matthieu Blazy presented his debut Métiers d’Art (Crafts) collection since taking the helm of the storied French fashion house.
Venue: Abandoned subway station
Blazy chose an unconventional location for his second show at the house, hosting the presentation in an abandoned subway station in the Bowery area of Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
He described the space as a setting for “murky but wonderful encounters,” viewing the subway as a place where everyone intersects, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary, and where style is democratic.
Models walked through stopped train cars toward the station platform, wearing a mix of reimagined New York classics filtered through a Chanel lens. The looks included striped suits, feather-adorned dresses, neon animal-print skirts, and luxurious coats.
The Collection: Celebrating craftsmanship and New York characters
The collection showcased diverse New York archetypes—from teenagers to society women, working women to busy mothers, and even referenced Gabrielle Chanel herself.
The designs seamlessly moved through different decades, from the 1920s to the contemporary 2020s, blending Art Deco touches with modern street style.
In an interview published in Chanel’s show invitation newspaper, Blazy emphasized that “embroidery is not better just because it’s embroidery—it’s better because it serves a purpose. Then suddenly, you can tell a story and create things that serve the overall mood”.
Maisons d’Art: The heart of craftsmanship
The annual Métiers d’Art collection celebrates the specialized craft workshops that form part of the Chanel universe. The house operates 11 craft ateliers housed in the Le 19M building, which opened in 2021 in the 19th arrondissement of Paris.
These specialized workshops include:
- Lesage: Embroidery since 1858
- Lemarié: Feather and flower making
- Maison Michel: Millinery since the 14th century
- Massaro: Shoemaking since 1894
- Goossens: Gold casting since 1950
- Montex: Embroidery since 1939
- Lognon: Pleating and folding techniques
- Desrues: Jewelry and accessories
Over 600 specialized craftspeople work across these ateliers in embroidery, feather and flower work, casting, pleating, shoemaking, and millinery.
Chanel’s historic relationship with New York
Chanel’s connection to the United States dates back to the early 20th century. Just two years after Gabrielle Chanel opened her first hat boutique in Paris in 1910, her designs became available for purchase at the department store J.M. Gidding & Co. in New York in 1912.
In 1931, Gabrielle Chanel visited New York on her way to Hollywood at the invitation of producer Samuel Goldwyn to design costumes for United Artists studio stars. She was received as a celebrity in her own right, designing costumes for films including “Tonight or Never” (1931) and “The Greeks Had a Word for Them” (1932).
During her stay in New York, Chanel discovered counterfeit versions of her designs selling at discount prices in Union Square, but she was not bothered. Instead, she considered the “counterfeits” as free advertising for her.
Front row stars
The show attracted an elite group of attendees, including actress Tilda Swinton, actress Kristen Stewart (the house’s ambassador), singer Solange Knowles, actress Tiana Taylor, Jesse Buckley, plus newly appointed ambassador A$AP Rocky and actress Margaret Qualley.
A$AP Rocky named new house ambassador
Two days before the show, Chanel announced the appointment of rapper A$AP Rocky as the house’s new ambassador. A short campaign film directed by Michel Gondry was released, featuring Rocky alongside actress Margaret Qualley, shot on New York streets in a style evoking silent cinema from the 1920s.
Blazy described Rocky as “an exceptional artist who puts his heart and soul into every project he’s involved in, and a wonderful human being”.
Karl Lagerfeld’s legacy
Late designer Karl Lagerfeld launched the Métiers d’Art collection in 2002 under the name “Satellite Love,” featuring 33 designs presented at the haute couture salons on Rue Cambon. Since then, the collection has become an annual tradition, presented at locations connected to Gabrielle Chanel’s legacy or sources of inspiration.
The last Métiers d’Art show in New York took place in 2018 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, two months before Lagerfeld’s passing/.
