Nineteen questions about the house Gabrielle Chanel founded in 1910, from the little black dress to Matthieu Blazy, answered from Ayerhs’s own reviews of more than 40 Chanel shows and guides.
By Shreya S · Last reviewed 30 October 2026
On this page: The house and its founder · The designers · The collections · Codes and craft · Business · The Ayerhs view
The house and its founder
Who founded Chanel, and when?
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel founded Chanel in Paris in 1910, when she opened a hat shop at 21 rue Cambon. She added a boutique in the seaside resort of Deauville in 1913 and a couture house in Biarritz in 1915. Rue Cambon is still the house’s address today.
Chanel was born in Saumur in 1883 and grew up partly in the convent orphanage at Aubazine, where she learned to sew. The black-and-white austerity of the convent is often traced in her later work. She died at the Ritz in Paris on 10 January 1971.
Read on Ayerhs: Coco Chanel – The complete guide · Coco Chanel: The Life, Legacy, and Fashion Revolution of an Icon
What did Coco Chanel change about how women dressed?
She took women out of the corset and into clothes they could move in. In the 1910s and 1920s she cut loose, unstructured shapes in jersey, a cheap knit then used for men’s underwear, and borrowed from menswear: trousers, knitwear, British tweed. Comfort became a form of chic.
She also made black fashionable rather than funereal, mixed real and fake jewellery, and in 1921 launched Chanel No. 5 with perfumer Ernest Beaux. The house’s later codes (quilted bags, two-tone shoes, pearls) were set in her second career, after 1954.
Read on Ayerhs: Coco Chanel – The complete guide · The A–Z of Chanel
Why is the Chanel suit so famous?
Because it gave women tailoring that moved like knitwear. The collarless, braid-trimmed tweed jacket with a straight or slightly flared skirt became the house’s signature after Chanel reopened in 1954. French critics dismissed that comeback collection; American buyers embraced it, and the suit became a uniform for women in public life.
Every Chanel designer since has rebuilt it, from Lagerfeld’s 1980s versions to Matthieu Blazy’s cropped tweed pantsuit that opened his Spring 2026 debut.
Read on Ayerhs: A Brief History of the Iconic Chanel Suit · Chanel Spring 2026 review
Did Chanel invent the little black dress?
She didn’t invent the black dress, but she made it the modern wardrobe staple. In 1926 American Vogue published her simple black sheath and framed it as a kind of uniform for women of taste. Until then black was mostly for mourning or service; Chanel turned it into something versatile, chic and wearable across classes.
Read on Ayerhs: The Evolution of the Little Black Dress · The Little Black Dress: How black became the ultimate fashion statement
The designers
Who has designed Chanel since Coco Chanel?
Four people have officially led Chanel’s fashion: Gabrielle Chanel (1910–1971), Karl Lagerfeld (1983–2019), Virginie Viard (2019–2024) and Matthieu Blazy (appointed December 2024). Between 1971 and 1983, and again between Viard’s exit and Blazy’s arrival, in-house studio teams designed the collections.
| Designer | Years | Defining idea |
|---|---|---|
| Gabrielle Chanel | 1910–1971 | Freedom of movement: jersey, the suit, the little black dress |
| Karl Lagerfeld | 1983–2019 | The codes as pop: logos, irony, Grand Palais spectacle |
| Virginie Viard | 2019–2024 | Quiet, wearable Chanel |
| Matthieu Blazy | 2024– | The codes loosened and made lived-in |
Read on Ayerhs: Karl Lagerfeld – The complete guide · Chanel by Virginie Viard · Blazy’s Chanel debut, Spring 2026
What did Karl Lagerfeld do for Chanel?
He turned a respected but sleepy house into the most famous name in fashion. Arriving in 1983, Lagerfeld treated Gabrielle Chanel’s codes (tweed, pearls, quilting, the interlocking Cs) as a vocabulary to remix, often with irony: logos blown up, suits cut short, hip-hop chains next to couture.
He also made the show itself the event, building an iceberg, a supermarket and a beach inside the Grand Palais. He designed Chanel for 36 years, until his death in February 2019, while also designing Fendi and his own label.
Ayerhs view: for us, the 90s are peak Lagerfeld Chanel, the decade of supermodels, gold chains and the cleanest version of the suit.
Read on Ayerhs: Karl Lagerfeld, Show by Show · 90s Chanel: The most iconic runway moments · 7 iconic collections from 90s Chanel
How was Virginie Viard’s Chanel received?
Commercially it worked; creatively it divided critics. Viard joined Chanel in 1987, spent about three decades as Lagerfeld’s closest collaborator, and took over after his death in 2019. Her collections were softer and more wearable, and the house’s sales grew strongly in those years. She left in June 2024.
Ayerhs view: her early work showed real promise and newness, but the collections that followed felt too safe for a house built on reinvention. The in-house studio’s Fall 2025 show, after her exit, read as a respectful farewell to the codes before the next chapter.
Read on Ayerhs: The best Chanel collection by Virginie Viard · Free, Feminine and feebly Fabulous: Chanel by Virginie Viard · Chanel Fall 2025: A Final Bow Before Change
Who is Matthieu Blazy, and what has he changed at Chanel?
Matthieu Blazy is the French-Belgian designer Chanel named artistic director of fashion on 12 December 2024. He trained at Maison Margiela, Raf Simons, Celine under Phoebe Philo and Calvin Klein, then ran Bottega Veneta from 2021 to 2024. He oversees all of Chanel’s couture, ready-to-wear and accessories.
His debut, Spring 2026, showed in October 2025 under glowing planets at the Grand Palais and opened with a cropped tweed pantsuit. Since then he has loosened the codes: tweed turned sheer or feather-light, suits relaxed into overshirts and blousons, and bags carried open. Fall 2026 was built on Gabrielle Chanel’s idea of fashion as both caterpillar and butterfly. Resort 2027, in Biarritz, played with beach-towel suits and straw bags.
Read on Ayerhs: Chanel Spring 2026 · Chanel Haute Couture Spring 2026 · Chanel Fall 2026 · Chanel Resort 2027
The collections
What are the most iconic Chanel runway shows?
Five that Ayerhs keeps returning to:
- Couture Spring 1993. Lagerfeld goes back to basics: soft crepe tailoring, flowing chiffon, balloon overskirts and crystal costume jewellery. Review
- Couture Fall 1996. The tapestries, chandeliers and gilded mirrors of Gabrielle Chanel’s own apartment, turned into clothes. Review
- Ready-to-wear in the 90s. Fall 1991 through Spring 1999: supermodels, gold chains, logo belts and the shortest suits. The 7 collections
- Fall 2014, the supermarket. The Grand Palais turned into a Chanel-branded grocery store, a joke about consumerism and luxury at once. Review
- Spring 2026, Blazy’s debut. The first show in years that made Chanel feel like it was moving again. Review
Which Chanel shows had the famous sets?
Most of them were Lagerfeld’s, staged in the Grand Palais in Paris:
| Season | Set |
|---|---|
| Fall 2010 | An iceberg of about 265 tonnes, shipped in from Sweden |
| Fall 2014 | A Chanel supermarket, with branded groceries |
| Fall 2017 | A rocket that “launched” at the finale |
| Spring 2019 | A beach with sand and waves; models walked barefoot |
| Fall 2019 | A snowy alpine village, Lagerfeld’s last collection, shown weeks after his death |
Blazy has kept the Grand Palais as Chanel’s stage: his Spring 2026 debut showed beneath giant glowing planets, and Spring 2027 beneath birds suspended from the roof.
Read on Ayerhs: Karl Lagerfeld, Show by Show · Chanel Fall 2010 · Chanel Spring 2019 · Chanel Fall 2019
Why do Chanel couture shows end with a bride?
It’s an old haute couture convention: the bride closes the show as its grand finale. Lagerfeld kept it alive at Chanel for decades, and his brides became some of the house’s most photographed looks. Ines de la Fressange closed Couture Fall 1987; later brides included Lily-Rose Depp (Spring 2017), Camille Hurel (Fall 2017) and Luna Bijl (Spring 2018).
Read on Ayerhs: Top 25 Chanel wedding dresses by Karl Lagerfeld
What has Chanel shown under Matthieu Blazy so far?
Ayerhs has reviewed four Blazy collections:
| Collection | Shown | What defined it |
|---|---|---|
| Resort 2027 | May 2026, Biarritz | Beach-towel suits, newspaper-print dresses, seashell earrings, giant straw bags |
| Fall 2026 | March 2026, Paris | “Caterpillar and butterfly”: everyday tweed opening into iridescent mesh and embroidery |
| Haute Couture Spring 2026 | January 2026, Paris | Soft and restrained rather than extravagant |
| Spring 2026 | October 2025, Paris | The debut: cropped tweed pantsuit, feather-light bouclé, pleated silk |
Read on Ayerhs: Resort 2027 · Fall 2026 · Couture Spring 2026 · Spring 2026
Codes and craft
What are Chanel’s signature codes?
The codes are the recurring elements every Chanel designer works with. Most were set by Gabrielle Chanel herself:
| Code | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Tweed | British menswear fabric she took up through Boy Capel; the base of the suit |
| The camellia | Her favourite flower, made in fabric for the house by the feather and flower atelier Lemarié |
| Two-tone slingback | Beige with a black toe, created with the shoemaker Massaro in 1957 |
| Quilted 2.55 bag | Named for February 1955; quilted leather on a chain strap |
| Interlocking Cs | The house logo, used heavily by Lagerfeld |
| Pearls and costume jewellery | Real and fake mixed, worn in long ropes |
| Black and beige | Black made chic; beige for ease |
| No. 5 | The 1921 perfume with Ernest Beaux |
Watching how each designer handles these is the easiest way to read a Chanel show. Blazy opened and closed Spring 2027 with Gabrielle Chanel’s own 2.55 bag.
Read on Ayerhs: The A–Z of Chanel · Coco Chanel – The complete guide
What is Chanel haute couture, and how is it different from ready-to-wear?
Chanel haute couture is made to measure, largely by hand, in the house’s Paris ateliers, for individual clients after several fittings. It is shown twice a year, in January and July. Ready-to-wear is produced in standard sizes and sold in boutiques; Chanel shows it in March and October, plus Resort (Cruise), Métiers d’art and other seasonal collections, around ten a year in all.
Couture is where the house shows what its hands can do: a single jacket or gown can take hundreds of hours of embroidery, feathers and fittings. Few people buy it, but it shapes the image of everything else Chanel sells.
Read on Ayerhs: Haute Couture vs. Ready-to-Wear: What’s the Difference? · Chanel Haute Couture Spring 2026 · Chanel Couture Spring 1993
Who makes Chanel’s embroidery, feathers, shoes and hats?
A group of specialist Paris workshops that Chanel has bought or partnered with over decades, now housed together in le19M, a building designed by Rudy Ricciotti on the edge of Paris’s 19th arrondissement. Chanel shows a Métiers d’art collection every year (since 2002) to celebrate them.
| Atelier | Craft | With Chanel |
|---|---|---|
| Lesage | Embroidery and tweed weaving | Partner since 1983 |
| Lemarié | Feathers, flowers (the camellia), pleats | Partner since 1962; joined 1996 |
| Massaro | Shoes, including the two-tone slingback | Since 1957; joined 2002 |
| Maison Michel | Hats and millinery | Joined 1997 |
| Goossens | Goldsmithing and jewellery | Joined 2005 |
| Atelier Montex | Embroidery | Joined 2011 |
| Lognon | Pleating | Joined Lemarié 2013 |
| Desrues | Buttons and costume jewellery | One of the first to join |
Read on Ayerhs: The A–Z of Chanel (M for Métiers d’Art)
Business
Who owns Chanel?
Chanel is privately owned by the French brothers Alain and Gérard Wertheimer. Their grandfather, Pierre Wertheimer, financed Parfums Chanel in 1924 and took 70% of it; Gabrielle Chanel kept 10%. The Wertheimers later bought out the remaining partners and the Chanel name, and have controlled the whole house since. Chanel’s headquarters moved to London in 2018.
The partnership was famously bitter: Gabrielle Chanel spent years fighting for more control of No. 5, including a failed attempt during the German occupation to use anti-Jewish laws against the Wertheimers.
Read on Ayerhs: Coco Chanel – The complete guide
Is Chanel part of LVMH?
No. Chanel is independent and family-owned, one of the very few major luxury houses outside the big groups such as LVMH (which owns Dior and Louis Vuitton) and Kering (which owns Gucci and Saint Laurent). Being private means Chanel answers to no shareholders and publishes far less about its business.
Read on Ayerhs: The Rise of Fashion Conglomerates
Why is Chanel so expensive?
Three reasons. The craft is real: Chanel owns the Paris workshops that embroider, weave and make its shoes and hats, and that hand work is costly. The materials are expensive, from tweeds woven for the house to leather for the bags. And Chanel deliberately prices as a top-tier luxury house, raising bag prices over time so that scarcity and status are part of what you buy.
Read on Ayerhs: Why Haute Couture Is So Expensive · How Fashion Brands Decide What to Charge
The Ayerhs view
Is Chanel good again under Matthieu Blazy?
Yes. After years of refined but safe collections, Blazy has made Chanel feel alive again. His Spring 2026 debut brought back imagination and the feeling of discovery; Fall 2026 made us fall in love with the house all over again; Resort 2027 was the most fun Chanel has been in a decade. The one hesitation was his first couture, which was beautiful but too restrained to feel like full couture.
What he gets right is balance: he understands the codes, but he treats them as something to live in rather than to preserve. The market agrees: Chanel returned to growth in 2025 after his appointment.
Read on Ayerhs: Spring 2026 · Couture Spring 2026 · Fall 2026 · Resort 2027