The French luxury fashion house wraps up Paris Fashion Week in a tight, neat bow—literally.
The label founded by Coco Chanel opened its fall/winter 2025 runway show in the most theatrical way possible: amid the grandeur of the Grand Palais and under a massive black ribbon, the size of which is impressive in itself, but it being made of steel made it even more gasp-worthy. According to The Guardian, the bow is the width of a city street and is 368 meters long.
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Its message? Chanel will always be about elegance—and endurance. It’s chic but tough, posh but resilient. And it has always been so for the past 114 years.
This message couldn’t come at a more opportune time as Chanel is still in a creative leadership vacuum following Virgie Viard’s exit. Matthieu Blazy has taken on the helm, but he is expected to only start work next month. Despite this, “leaderless” Chanel dazzled guests with its fall/winter 2025 show, a collection it describes as a “spectacular and poetic play on proportions.”
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True enough, the new capsule is all about excess in size executed in the most poetic of ways. Coco loved her pearls, and the new collection gives us just that, but supersized, with a single pearl roughly the size of a tennis ball. There were pearls everywhere: as the heel of a boot or in a crossbody bag.
But the play on proportions isn’t just about heft. The brand’s miniature handbags—just slightly bigger than a matchbox they can pass off as coin purses—made an appearance, too.
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There were also bows made of crystal and silk and of tweed with trompe l’oeil effects. We all know Coco loved them, too. In fact, one of her most famous creations is the Chanel Self-tying Bow, a multiple-purpose piece that could accentuate whichever part of your body you’d like—your hair, waist, neck.
Among the most unforgettable pieces from the show were the grenadine silk tweed suits, which came in cream, lipstick red, and classic black, and complemented with ribboned hats. These ensembles were classic Chanel through and through.
Just as spectacular as the collection and the venue is the guest list. Spotted on the front were ambassadors and friends of the House of Chanel, including Naomi Campbell, Camila Cabello, Wang Yibo, Rebecca Armstrong, Dakota Fanning, Caroline de Maigret, Park Seo-jun, Gemini, Marine Vacth, Hannah Herzsprung, Liu Wen, Raye, Whitney Peak, Riley Keough, Tyla, Phoebe Tonkin, Narnaash, Simone Ashley, Charlotte Casiraghi, Rebecca Marder, Peggy Gou, and Charlotte Cardin.
Overall, Chanel’s fall/winter 2025 collection didn’t have show-stopping pieces compared to rival houses such as Valentino and Louis Vuitton. Its choice to lean toward the timeless and familiar, however, sends a timely message loud and clear: times may change but the Chanel brand, regardless of the leadership, remains a paragon of style and elegance.
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Watch the full show here.
