7 looks I liked at Chanel Fall/Winter 2026 Haute Couture collection 

“I started to wonder, was Gabrielle Chanel’s life a fairy tale? I found a small book in her library, Les Fées, Contes des Contes, and asked myself if, together with the Haute Couture ateliers, we could make garments that tell stories like a book”, said Matthieu Blazy, at the opening of Chanel Fall/Winter 2026 Haute Couture show. And the show was a fairy tale, indeed. Below, 7 looks I liked at Chanel Fall/Winter 2026 Haute Couture collection. 

About the fairytales… 

In his sophomore Haute Couture collection for the House, Matthieu Blazy, as Artistic Director of Fashion Activities, embraces narrative and the stories of the women who wear Chanel. From Jack and the Beanstalk to Goldilocks and the Three Bears, via the rigor of cut and construction on the body, old and new ways of thinking, seeing, and making are embraced. Yet all remains firmly rooted in Chanel and the supreme skills of the Haute Couture tailor, flou and galon ateliers, and the artisans of fabric-making, embroidery, pleating, hat making, goldsmithing, and shoemaking.

About the collection… 

* The Chanel suit that opened the show is constructed from guipure that echoes the idea of magic beans, interspersed with transparencies of light silk mousseline. The model clasps a copy of Les Fées, Contes des Contes directly from the shelf of Gabrielle Chanel’s apartment library. 

* After that introduction, the inner life of storybooks is transferred to the clothes themselves; a vine might creep up the heel of a shoe, a small minaudière might appear as a sleeping bear, and a series of buttons might transform from duckling to swan. 

* Stitched into interiors, slid into pockets and suspended from the famous weighting chain, memo notes, charms and bric-a-brac accumulate, artifacts of the everyday for the wearer to choose. The thieving magpie becomes talismanic in this process, as the accumulation cascades from the inner to the outer world. 

* Altering necklines, hemlines, fabrics and accessories, a cumulative crescendo is reached through weaving, embroidery, layering and appliqué. An elevation of everyday objects alongside noble materials, and the adaptation of make-do-and-mend to the very heights of Haute Couture.

“Haute Couture at Chanel is not just a fairy tale; in essence it is for women, their realities and their adventures of the everyday.” Matthieu Blazy.

Photography: (c) Chanel.