“I’ve never seen you wait in any line, this is crazy,” said one friend to another after returning from securing a bag of chocolates for sustenance. It was 1:23 pm on Friday the 13th and a chilly “feels like” of 28 degrees outside Chanel’s 57th Street boutique in New York City. Everyone was there for one reason and one reason only: to get their hands on—or at least glimpse in real life—the freshly available pieces from Matthieu Blazy’s debut Chanel spring 2026 collection.
Something of a Matthieu-mania has taken hold of Chanel boutiques of late. The collection officially launched in-stores in Paris on March 5 during Paris Fashion Week, and it elicited a kind of retail frenzy akin to the heyday of sample sales. Editors, VIPs, and VICs alike descended on the brand’s locations across the city to shop the new items, particularly the east-west bags and the embossed croc pumps, before they were gone.
For the vast majority of New Yorkers who were not in Paris, Blazy’s debut collection landed exclusively in the uptown flagship this morning. I arrived at 1:03 pm, three minutes after the store’s listed opening time, and the line was already down the block. Understandably, some customers in line declined to chat for privacy reasons (one woman said that her parents “would kill her”), but many were excited to talk about their renewed passion for the house.
“I’m not a big Chanel person, but [Matthieu] changed the vibe of the brand, and so for the first time there’s a bunch of things where there’s something I would wear,” said Barbara, who watched videos of Blazy’s debut show online. After texting with a sales associate in New Jersey, she was told about today’s drop and budgeted on spending around $15,000, given the pair of shoes and bag that she wanted were available.
“I really liked what Matthieu did at Bottega [Veneta] so I was very curious to see what he was going to do at Chanel,” said Jennifer, a 34-year-old accountant. She was on the hunt for the mint green and black croc pumps—a standout item for the Paris shoppers, too. While she explained she enjoys casually consuming fashion content from editors and bloggers, she doesn’t consider herself a runway diehard who watches all the big brand’s collections. She was intent on buying great investment pieces she can pass down to her daughter, though it was exciting for her to see other people so animated about a collection.
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