Chanel took over a New York subway station for its 2026 Métiers d’Art show, proving once again that Matthieu Blazy has no interest in keeping luxury on a pedestal. Instead of chandeliers and marble, the setting was a decommissioned platform with tiled columns, metal beams, and the faint echo of actual commuters - a clever grounding of a collection that leaned into urban polish rather than fantasy.

The night opened with a milestone moment for representation: a South Asian model, Bhavitha Mandava, who has quickly become one of fashion’s most compelling new faces.

She was first scouted on the New York subway - an origin story so fitting for this venue it almost felt engineered - before walking Matthieu Blazy’s final runway at Bottega Veneta and later fronting one of the house’s campaigns. With Blazy now at Chanel, he brought her narrative full circle, tapping her to open the show in a look inspired by what she was wearing the day she was discovered: a casual sweater and jeans.

The carriage doors of the train opened, and Blazy anchored everything in Chanel’s Métiers d’Art universe - the tweed, the feathers, the embroidery, the obsessive craftsmanship. Instead of old-school Parisian pomp, you got a wardrobe that felt lived-in, city-coded, and actually wearable. Think: sharp suiting parked next to slinky evening dresses, “I ❤️ NY” silk tees cheekily tucked under tweed, sequinned skirts catching the kind of sparkle usually reserved for Times Square at 2 AM. A green tweed skirt suit hit that sweet spot between polished and streetwise, while a fringed skyline skirt shimmered like graffiti catching stray light on the platform.

Accessories stayed on theme: minaudières in odd, charming shapes - including a peanut, structured bags with commuter energy and some classic flaps with animal shaped hardware – imagine squirrel legs on the bottom of a bag, a head on the front side and a furry tail as part of the chain strap.

The show wasn’t chasing a singular mood - it was a collage. A snapshot of New York’s beautiful chaos. Blazy cast each look like a different character you might brush past underground: the power-dressed office commuter, the after-hours club kid, the uptown girl in immaculate boucle. It felt less like a collection and more like Chanel’s love letter to the city - messy, stylish, relentless, and somehow always chic on the move.

The casting mirrored the city’s diversity, and the pacing kept the focus on clothes rather than theatrics. Blazy’s Métiers d’Art was about precision, craft, and an understanding that luxury thrives when it meets the real world instead of floating above it.