Once Upon a Time at the Grand Palais: Inside Matthieu Blazy’s New Fairytale Chanel Couture

Chanel just turned Paris into a storybook — and we haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

On the second day of Paris Haute Couture Week, Chanel creative director Matthieu Blazy unveiled his second couture collection for the House, and darling, he did not come to play it safe. Titled “Gaby and the Beanstalk,” the Fall/Winter 2026-2027 collection was born from a book of fairytales — Les Fées, Contes des Contes — that Blazy discovered tucked away in Gabrielle Chanel’s personal library. From that single spark, he built an entire enchanted world inside the Grand Palais.

A Chanel Set Straight Out of a Storybook

The moment guests walked in, the fantasy began. Giant beanstalks erupted from the floor. Clouds drifted across the ceiling. A lush, painterly garden wrapped around the runway, turning every exit into a page turning. It was theatrical, it was immersive, and it was exactly the kind of grand gesture couture exists for — the sort of spectacle that reminds you why, twice a year, the entire fashion world holds its breath for Paris.

The Craft Was Otherworldly

This is where Blazy proved, once again, that he understands the assignment.

Featherweight florals bloomed across a plush ivory coat and a strapless confetti-petal column that looked spun from spring itself. Painterly beaded birds appeared mid-flight across a delicate slip. A sheer dress crawled with embroidered climbing vines and three-dimensional blossoms, as if the garden outside had wound its way onto the fabric.

And then there were the tweeds — Chanel’s signature, reimagined with a wink. A daisy-strewn skirt suit. A punchy red argyle set with a fluttering hem. An ivory-and-coral bouclé coat finished, naturally, with cherry-topped heels.

But the magic lived in the details. Blazy sent out heels shaped like pea pods, butterflies, and golden eggs, plus minaudières made to resemble beans and tiny sleeping bears. It was fashion as fairytale, right down to the accessories — the kind of whimsy that makes you lean in closer, then closer still.

And Yes, There Was a Bride

In keeping with couture tradition, a bride closed the enchantment — floating out in tiers of floral lace beneath a sweeping cathedral veil, a bouquet in hand. A fittingly romantic final chapter for a collection this dreamy.

The Chanel Front Row Was Its Own Fairytale

Because it wouldn’t be Chanel without a showstopping crowd. Teyana Taylor, Pedro Pascal, Tilda Swinton, and Alexa Demie all took their seats among the vines, proving the front row can be just as carefully cast as the runway.

The takeaway? Matthieu Blazy is writing a bold new chapter for Chanel — one where heritage and imagination bloom side by side. And if this collection is any indication, we’re only at the beginning of the story.

So tell us: would you wear the feathers, the tweed, or the vines?