When Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel first loosened the corset and dared to cut jersey into daywear, she wasn't just designing clothes - she was engineering freedom of movement. Nearly a century later, Matthieu Blazy's debut Métiers d'Art collection for the house carries that same impulse across continents, landing in Seoul for its Asian premiere at the Centre Pompidou Hanwha. The setting, a minimalist museum space before its public opening, offered a striking counterpoint to the collection's first staging in a New York subway station. Without the grit and glare of underground transit, the tweeds felt lighter, the layers more fluid - a quiet recalibration of Chanel's iconic codes. Tilda Swinton, who saw both presentations, noted that the Seoul iteration brought the garments "into even sharper focus." She drew a direct line from Blazy's work to the founder's original vision: "To see these women moving in a way you can move in Matthieu Blazy's work - it's probably not that far off what it was like to walk in the clothes made by Gabrielle Chanel. You're liberated." That sense of liberation is the very thread that runs through lingerie history, from the early 20th-century brassiere that freed the bust to the modern bralette that prioritizes breathability over structure. Chanel herself famously rejected the stiff, sculpted undergarments of her era, preferring a silhouette that moved with the body rather than against it. Blazy's approach echoes that ethos: bouclé tweeds are softened, layered pearls feel unceremonious, and a vivid blue suit revisits the costumes Chanel designed for the 1931 film "Tonight or Never." Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion at Chanel, explained the choice of Seoul as obvious, citing the city's cultural dynamism. "There are so many edgy things happening here - cinema, music, everything," he said. The house has deepened its roots in South Korea with a new heritage boutique and an atelier dedicated to restoration, ensuring that craftsmanship - like a well-made corset or a finely woven tweed - is preserved for the next generation. "When you have a strong heritage, you have even more freedom to design for tomorrow," Pavlovsky added. "You don't have to take everything. You have to take what is meaningful." For Swinton, that philosophy resonates beyond fashion. "It's very important that we invest our energies and focus on what humans can do," she said. In a world moving at accelerating speed, the Métiers d'Art collection is a reminder that the most radical act of design is to make something we can all move in - and pass on.
Originally reported by WWD