The Fellowship of Chanel: Matthieu Blazy’s AW26 couture show in numbers

Matthieu Blazy is living a fashion fairytale. At the end of 2024, he landed the most coveted job in the industry, making his debut as creative director of Chanel last year. His wildest fashion fantasy became his reality, so it’s no wonder he’s got fairytales on his mind. Back in January, he made his Chanel haute couture debut, drawing inspiration from children’s bedtime stories. The show was set to Disney’s Sleeping Beauty soundtrack, while giant toadstools filled the Grand Palais. 

Today (July 7), Blazy delivered his AW26 couture show, taking his fairytale dreamscape one step further. After discovering a copy of Les Fées: Contes des Contes in Coco Chanel’s personal library, the French-Belgian designer went deep into the world of classic tales. Jack and the Beanstalk served as the starting point, with the show space recreating the scene that awaits Jack when he reaches the top, with the ceiling covered in clouds.

As always, the soundtrack had guests beaming – Blazy and sound designer Michel Gaubert kicked things off by transporting us to The Shire with Howard Shore’s 2001 Lord of the Rings soundtrack. It was a show full of surprises, and below, we take a closer look at the Chanel AW26 show in numbers. 

2026 marks the 25th anniversary since The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring first hit cinemas, and clearly, Blazy is celebrating. Models walked to the sweet, tin whistle sounds of the LOTR universe, sending any Tolkien fans into a tailspin. Later, we heard Sixpence None The Richer’s “Kiss Me”, while Dolly Parton soundtracked the finale. 

Today’s show doubled-up as a Chanel Easter egg hunt, with at least 20 eggs hidden throughout the collection (that we spotted). Inspired by Jack and the Beanstalk’s golden hen that lays solid gold eggs, they appeared as the heels of shoes, dangling as bag charms and balanced on models’ shoulders. Even the nail art took the shape of golden eggs. 

Chickens, geese, swans and magpies all fluttered down the runway in the form of brooches, clutch bags and embroidered patterns. As mentioned previously, the chicken alludes to Jack’s magical hen, while the geese could be referencing the tale of The Golden Goose, and swans referencing Swan Lake. There is a folktale about magpies too, though they often show up in fairytales as tricksters. 

While most of the beauty looks remained natural and soft, we saw three instances of bold red lips. Upon closer inspection, you’d notice that they were glittering too – just like Dorothy’s ruby slippers. And that wasn’t Blazy’s only Oz-inspired motif… 

Blazy took us on a stroll down the yellow brick road with two models dressed as Chanel haute couture scarecrows. They wore hats, jackets and shoes covered in straw (or rather, a very expensive fabric cleverly designed to imitate straw).

As far as we know, Blazy didn’t actually debut a new collab with Guinness, but it did look like it for a second. Alongside the chickens, eggs and beans, another symbol plucked straight from Jack and the Beakstalk was the golden harp. At a glance, the harp looked distinctly similar to the famous Guinness harp logo – sorry Matthieu, that’s J Dubs’ territory.