Matthieu Blazy made his grand entrance at Chanel – and what an arrival it was. Taking the closing slot of Paris Fashion Week at the Grand Palais, the French designer unveiled his long-awaited debut for the legendary house.
If he felt the weight of history – where does one begin reworking the codes of Gabrielle Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld and, more recently, Virginie Viard? - he didn’t show it. Instead, he channelled the house’s inherent cool and made it look effortless.
He opened with a boxy jacket and pleated trousers slung low on the hips, reimagining the classic Chanel tweed with rolled sleeves and a popped collar. A wrap skirt in boucle tweed followed, paired with a maroon red knitted cardigan.
By the seventh look, proportions had loosened – a black wrap skirt lined in white, worn with a long V-neck. Hands in pockets, the new Blazy Chanel woman felt modern and unhurried.
A sheer embroidered chiffon top came with a straight, dip-dyed skirt; a Prince of Wales check jacket met a frayed wrap skirt.
By the 12th look, silhouettes became more fluid – a bias-cut, asymmetric skirt teamed with an oversized jumper, half-tucked for real-world ease. This is Blazy’s signature – injecting clothes heavy with legacy with a sense of lived-in, wearable cool.
His technical mastery was clear in the play of texture and movement – a masculine pink shirt paired with a red asymmetric skirt, rippling like water.
That masculine-feminine dialogue returned in a cropped shirt worn with a vast, feather-covered skirt in the same vivid red – a bold, dramatic new direction for the house. Loose-knit skirts, dresses and tops with floral hems expanded Chanel’s vocabulary, signalling change without rebellion.
Even the house’s emblematic tweed suit made a late appearance – not until Look 38 – and when it did, it was looser, more relaxed, its structure softened for a new era.
In the audience, Nicole Kidman, Chanel’s newly named ambassador, arrived in a crisp white shirt and jeans – a look almost unimaginable in the previous years and a telling sign of the shift underway.
Blazy, one of the most respected designers of his generation, was brought in to breathe new life into a brand that aims to balance its storied past with its global reach.
Chanel is a cultural institution as much as a fashion house, and Blazy’s task is to make it feel relevant without losing its soul.
With this first Parisian salvo – filled with an unhurried, edgy chic, against which the work of the last designer Viard looks frumpy in comparison – Blazy has announced a daring, dazzling new direction.
Citizenship-by-investment programmes
United Kingdom
The UK offers three programmes for residency. The UK Overseas Business Representative Visa lets you open an overseas branch office of your existing company in the country at no extra investment. For the UK Tier 1 Innovator Visa, you are required to invest £50,000 (Dh238,000) into a business. You can also get a UK Tier 1 Investor Visa if you invest £2 million, £5m or £10m (the higher the investment, the sooner you obtain your permanent residency).
All UK residency visas get approved in 90 to 120 days and are valid for 3 years. After 3 years, the applicant can apply for extension of another 2 years. Once they have lived in the UK for a minimum of 6 months every year, they are eligible to apply for permanent residency (called Indefinite Leave to Remain). After one year of ILR, the applicant can apply for UK passport.
The Caribbean
Depending on the country, the investment amount starts from $100,000 (Dh367,250) and can go up to $400,000 in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take between four to five months to receive a passport.
Portugal
The investment amount ranges from €350,000 to €500,000 (Dh1.5m to Dh2.16m) in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take a maximum of six months to receive a Golden Visa. Applicants can apply for permanent residency after five years and Portuguese citizenship after six years.
“Among European countries with residency programmes, Portugal has been the most popular because it offers the most cost-effective programme to eventually acquire citizenship of the European Union without ever residing in Portugal,” states Veronica Cotdemiey of Citizenship Invest.
Greece
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Greece is €250,000, making it the cheapest real estate residency visa scheme in Europe. You can apply for residency in four months and citizenship after seven years.
Spain
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Spain is €500,000. You can apply for permanent residency after five years and citizenship after 10 years. It is not necessary to live in Spain to retain and renew the residency visa permit.
Cyprus
Cyprus offers the quickest route to citizenship of a European country in only six months. An investment of €2m in real estate is required, making it the highest priced programme in Europe.
Malta
The Malta citizenship by investment programme is lengthy and investors are required to contribute sums as donations to the Maltese government. The applicant must either contribute at least €650,000 to the National Development & Social Fund. Spouses and children are required to contribute €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents must contribute €50,000 each.
The second step is to make an investment in property of at least €350,000 or enter a property rental contract for at least €16,000 per annum for five years. The third step is to invest at least €150,000 in bonds or shares approved by the Maltese government to be kept for at least five years.
Candidates must commit to a minimum physical presence in Malta before citizenship is granted. While you get residency in two months, you can apply for citizenship after a year.
Egypt
A one-year residency permit can be bought if you purchase property in Egypt worth $100,000. A three-year residency is available for those who invest $200,000 in property, and five years for those who purchase property worth $400,000.
Source: Citizenship Invest and Aqua Properties
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