Summer in the city: Chanel takes Métiers d'art 2026 to Seoul

This year marked the first Métiers d’art collection by Matthieu Blazy, inspired by the indescribable energy of a city—the type that keeps commuters thrumming in the early morning hours, the type that drives industry but also creativity, the type that keeps bright lights shining until the break of dawn. And of course, New York is the archetypal city, where both workers and creatives flock to find fame or fortune, if not both.

After a glittering turn in the Big Apple, Chanel looked to bring the Métiers d’art magic to our side of the world. When staging a replica show, the aim for Chanel is not to find an exact match in location—for a start, that would be an impossible task, and it would also confine a collection too narrowly to its context, turning it into costume rather than clothes. The idea is to find a synergy, a match in energy if not in circumstance. And when you think of pulsing, energetic, creative cities, Seoul is a natural. It’s drawn visitors and acolytes from the world over with shopping and food, its globally-dominant music and celebrities, but also its pulsing undercurrent of creativity. And it was here that Métier d’arts 2026 found its second home.

Days before the Centre Pompidou Hanwha officially opened its doors in Seoul, Chanel took over. The sprawling space, lined with incredible examples of Cubism, including 12 original works by Pablo Picasso, formed the backdrop for Métiers d’art 2026 Replica Show. The collection played with the idea of different personalities crossing paths in a city, and came to life as models walked in and out of the centre’s spaces; glimpsed through cut-outs, round walls, whizzing past on escalators. Jennie, G-Dragon, Park Seojun, Peggy Gou, Tilda Swinton, Marion Cotillard, clients, celebrities and members of the press from all over Asia and the world watched, rapt, as models walked past in pieces both familiar and exciting.

There was Bhavitha Mandava in her quarter-zip; the Superman jumper, the fascinator with moulded cat ears (from Maison Michel, of course), the jolting yellow jacket, the mixed plaids topped with cellophane-like flowers. Everyone was an exercise in fullness: of colour, of volume, of ornamentation. Intricately embroidered ladybirds, each one taking Atelier Montex ten hours to hand-embroider, nestled in beds of white plumage and scurried round the neckline of a sheer blazer. Wild camellias were crafted from shantung, silk charmeuse and hand-stitched feathers by Lemarié. There were gowns encrusted in layers of beads, suggestive of a cracked-open raw crystal; there were coffee cup carriers in caviar leather.

“There were so many stories, so many female characters,” Marion Cotillard said, speaking to us after the show. “I loved the strength and fierceness, the multiplicity that I saw, that told so many stories. Collection after collection, Matthieu Blazy just plays with the codes and puts himself in everything he does. Usually the Métiers d’art is one of my favourite collections but of all the collections Matthieu has shown so far, I love it so much, even the clothes and looks that I wouldn’t wear, I love them.”

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