Chanel to Enter Serious Fashion Era

There may not be another designer who can or will undertake Lagerfeldian theatrics.

Chanel appointed Matthieu Blazy creative director, six months after Virginie Viard stepped down following five years of the online peanut gallery deriding her collections. Blazy was the head designer at Bottega Veneta, and will wait out his noncompete with its owner Kering until April or so of next year when he will start at Chanel, with his first collection scheduled for October. (Louise Trotter of Carven will take his place at Bottega.) The announcement puts to rest the feverish speculation over who would get the job, with names ranging from Simone Porte Jacquemus to Hedi Slimane to Thom Browne.

Matthieu Blazy, courtesy of Chanel.

Blazy will report to Chanel’s president of fashion Bruno Pavlovsky, who told Women’s Wear Daily, “Very quickly, we narrowed it down to three people with whom we spoke, but Matthieu stood out immediately because he has a track record, a vision of Chanel and a modernity that seduced us.”

Blazy is only the fourth person to officially serve as creative director (or, as Chanel put it, “artistic director of fashion activities”). Even though he gets time off, he’s sure to have the least relaxing ten months of anyone in fashion, as the Chanel job is considered one of the most prestigious appointments in the business, and, well, look at how Viard got chased out of there.

"He's created a name for himself, and it's true that Bottega has become one of the biggest brands lately, and the turnaround has been fantastic," fashion and luxury consultant Blanca Zugaza Escribano told Business Insider. "But is he at the level of a Karl Lagerfeld?"

I would argue no.