The Chanel haute couture fw 2025 was an ode to its past

CHANEL HAUTE COUTURE FALL/WINTER 2025

Held in the Salon d’Honneur at the Grand Palais, the Chanel haute couture show was set against a backdrop conceived by Willo Perron that evoked the English countryside and Scottish moors: landscapes that once stirred Gabrielle Chanel’s imagination to create what would become her most iconic tweed pieces. The tone was poetic, yet grounded.

On the runway, there was couture for the woman who moves literally and symbolically. Chanel offered ease without compromise, unlike the tightly cinched silhouettes we’ve seen elsewhere this week, although Schiaparelli’s Daniel Roseberry also starts to refrain from it with his new take on the house’s codes.

The suits (in natural hues of ecru, peat, and moss) borrowed from menswear but were softened by mohair, bouclé, and hand-finished embroideries. A seemingly knitted white coatdress shimmered with braided detailing. A black-and-white tweed coat appeared almost sheepskin-like in its texture, even though the color palette is borrowed from menswear, something Chanel herself loved. Overall, the looks echoed Gabrielle’s rallying cry against Christian Dior’s assertion that women had no place in haute couture—until today, the house proves the opposite.

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS

And yet, it was all about the details, in line with Chanel’s thinking: true luxury isn’t visible at first glance—jewel buttons shaped like wheat ears (a Chanel talisman of abundance) punctuated trousers and capelets. Plum-hued mohair suits caught the light with a softness that bordered on sentimental.

There were faint traces of Virginie Viard’s tenure, a certain lightness, an undone elegance (that’s more than just the French’s je ne sais quoi attitude), but mostly, this collection looked further back. It felt anchored in Gabrielle Chanel’s original impulse: to liberate women through clothes that serve rather than restrict. In a time when fashion (like politics) skews increasingly conservative, this return to the founding spirit of emancipation felt relevant and necessary.

Of course, the real anticipation now shifts to Matthieu Blazy. His arrival at Chanel comes with great expectation, and rightly so. If today’s show closed the door on one era with dignity, Blazy is poised to fling open the windows. With his deep appreciation for craft and ability to marry heritage with the now, many argue, October can’t come soon enough. Until then, this studio-led swan song reminds of what makes Chanel endure.

All images below: Copyright Chanel