Updated ,first published
What do Kylie Minogue, EDM producer Dom Dolla and legendary Australian designer Jenny Kee have in common?
They were all at the Chanel Cruise 2026/27 runway, the first show ever staged by the French luxury house in Australia.
Taking place at the Cutaway in Barangaroo, in Sydney, it was a re-staging of creative director Matthieu Blazy’s debut cruise collection first presented in Biarritz back in April.
Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and Baz Luhrmann were all among the stars who came out for one of the biggest moments in Australia’s fashion history.
With carpet the shade of sand, mirrored walls and a labyrinth of rooms, the luxurious Sydney set was not dissimilar to the Biarritz presentation, which was modelled off the original atelier Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel set up in the Basque town in 1915.
Australian models Julia Nobis, Emma Balfour and Josephine Akuei, who all walked in the original show, were back on deck, joined by fellow modelling icons Gemma Ward, Catherine McNeil and Charlee Fraser, in addition to fresh faces Latahlia Hickling and Tatyana Perry, who made their runway debuts for Chanel during Paris Fashion Week.
Rubbing shoulders with celebrities and artists (Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran and Atong Atem among them) were fashion editors as well as the people who the show was really for: the VICs (very important clients), who Chanel hope will feel strongly enough about the experience that they’ll walk into a boutique tomorrow, when the collection hits stands, and start snapping it up.
Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion at Chanel, says these moments are about evoking an emotional response that deepens the client’s connection to the brand.
“It’s about offering the best experience to this client, the existing one, and if possible, many new ones,” says Pavlovsky, who stresses that each Chanel collection should be relevant to every market, regardless of their cultural or geographical context.
“At Chanel, we never design something special for one city or one market. It’s the same collection, but through a new angle. This Sydney, Australian angle will probably bring something a bit different, in terms of mood, in terms of energy.”
The show marks a turning point in Australia’s relationship with Chanel, which traces back to the ’80s when they opened their first boutique in Sydney, and is a precursor for the unveiling of a massive renovation to their Flinders Lane boutique in Melbourne, set to open next week.
That they brought this specific collection to Australia demonstrates the significance of the moment, with Pavlovsky explaining the decision to re-stage the cruise collection in Sydney was less about the obvious similarities – “the beach, the sea, or the surf” – but rather what both mean to the French luxury house.
“It’s more about what Biarritz represents as the roots of Mademoiselle Chanel,” says Pavlovsky, who has been president of Chanel’s fashion division since 2004.
“It’s where she set up her very first atelier, it’s where she started to design haute couture.”
Not only was the collection originally presented in Biarritz, but Blazy’s designs were influenced by Chanel’s relationship with the seaside town and how it informed her radical sensibilities.
As Pavlovsky says, it’s where Chanel first had the idea to set up her couture atelier in 1915. At the time, the seaside town had become a safe haven for aristocrats, intellectuals and artists, where they could retreat from Paris during World War I. People like Pablo Picasso, Man Ray and Jean Cocteau.
It’s where Chanel started experimenting with ideas about workwear and fabrication; where she designed the little black dress (also celebrating its centenary this year), which Blazy refers to as the “first revenge dress”.
Crafted from jersey and minimal in design but elevated to status of couture, Chanel’s revenge was making the upper class of Biarritz covet an item they would have otherwise been considered below them.
“It was super interesting for Matthieu, for his first cruise collection, to deep dive on Biarritz and Mademoiselle Chanel, and consider the inspiration Biarritz provided to Mademoiselle Chanel,” Pavlovksy says, describing it as a “very meaningful collection” for the house.
“It’s not a cruise collection like any other, it’s very unique because of these references, and relevancy of who Mademoiselle Chanel was. For me, it was a big step for Matthieu as a designer, to be able to dare and to go in this area. It’s quite interesting.
“We felt this collection was quite good for a market that we want to grow.”
If there is one word that’s quickly becoming synonymous with Blazy and his generation-defining work at Chanel, it’s joy.
Pavlovsky returned to that when describing what he hopes the Australian audience will take from seeing Blazy’s work up close.
“We just want to make people happy, make people feel joyful,” he says. “If they’re in a good mood: job done.”
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