Chanel’s Haute Couture SS25 collection, unveiled today at the Grand Palais, has proven a comprehensive homage to its 110-year legacy, despite the absence of a creative director
"Comfort has forms. Love has colours." These words from Gabrielle Chanel felt especially poignant at today’s Chanel Haute Couture spring/summer '25 show, where colour, texture, and structure converged in a celebration of the house’s 110-year legacy.
Returning, as always, to the Grand Palais, the show’s set – a sprawling runway shaped as the double-C logo, evoking the infinity symbol – served as the perfect canvas for the collection’s chromatic progression. Designed by Willo Perron, the structure mirrored the Creation Studio’s tribute to Gabrielle Chanel’s radical use of black and her mastery of colour. From the soft pastels to vivid, jewel-like hues, the runway followed a day-to-night cycle, with each piece telling a part of the story.
Opening with soft dawn-hued silk crêpe pyjama-style ensembles and sunshine yellow tweed, the collection soon moved into lilac, orange-pink, and mimosa tones, each more ethereal than the last. The choice of colours – ranging from soft pastels to midnight blue and black – was more than a palette; it was a narrative. A closer look revealed the impeccable craftsmanship to be expected: tweeds, pockets, and braids were woven into a symphony of colours, with bronze, pink, and royal blue satin linings, and buttons transformed into moons, suns, and camellia flowers. Dresses alternated between short and long, their fabrics so delicate they seemed to float, creating an illusion of weightlessness, further enhanced by painted lace and embroidered chiffon.
The atmosphere was charged as icons like Dua Lipa, Laufey, Pamela Anderson and Caroine De Maigret looked on from the star-studded front row in their Chanel finest, Yet there was something different about the show’s conclusion – without a creative designer’s bow, it felt like a house in transition. With Matthieu Blazy set to take the helm later this year, the absence of this tradition seemed fitting, as Chanel moves forward while holding tight to its heritage.
While it has come from a Chanel in a certain state of flux, this was an exploration of Chanel’s codes, a journey from day to night, from dawn to dusk.
See all of the looks from the Chanel Haute Couture SS25 collection below.
