5 details spotted at the Chanel Spring/Summer 2025 Haute Couture show

The heritage of Chanel on the catwalk at the Grand Palais

On January 28th, 2025, Chanel went back to the nave of the Grand Palais for its Spring/Summer 2025 couture show. It was the second time Chanel held a fashion show there and the first time a show was dedicated to haute couture since the Grand Palais’ reopening last September 2024.

It is also the third collection presented by the design studio since Virginie Viard’s unexpected departure in June 2024. Appointed last December, her successor, the Franco-Belgian designer Matthieu Blazy, only took office a few weeks ago.

Although this Chanel haute couture show may appear as a sort of in-between, it comes at the right time. There’s nothing like returning back to the original codes of a fashion house in order to open a new creative chapter.

Bruno Pavlovsky, President of Fashion at CHANEL and Chanel SAS, confirmed it in an article published in Le Monde in December 2024, while he was attending the Métiers d’Art show in Hangzhou, China: “In this transitional period without an artistic director, the studio will draw its inspiration from our history.”

110 years of haute couture by Chanel

As this show celebrates 110 years of Chanel’s haute couture, the French fashion house proudly claims its status as the oldest house still in business. However, Lanvin, which presented the first show of its artistic director Peter Copping on January 26th, 2025, claims to be France’s oldest fashion house. Yet, Lanvin focuses exclusively on ready-to-wear.

When Gabrielle Chanel opened her house in 1910, she started out as a milliner. Her hats were so successful that, three years down the line, she began designing clothes as well. However, her debut fashion show was not held in the legendary salons Rue Cambon, but in Biarritz, where she had settled during the First World War.

As for the catwalk, the double C drawing the symbol of infinity imagined by the scenographer and designer Willo Perron sends a very clear message – the house of Chanel is eternal.

Timeless codes that transcend any trend

Tweed, camellia, double C, precious buttons… Chanel’s codes are without any doubt the most famous in the world today and have been for decades. First conceived by Gabrielle Chanel, they were then cultivated with strength and audacity by Karl Lagerfeld, artistic director of the house from 1983 to 2019.

While some elements are very much present in the collection, the Chanel allure is also what is showcased in this Spring/Summer 2025 haute couture collection. Numéro dives into five emblematic details of the house.

A black belt to emphasize the waist

At the beginning of the 20th century, while Gabrielle Chanel began to wear trousers – a garment reserved exclusively for men – she used a belt to ensure her support. In the spring-summer 2025 haute couture show, a thin black belt, sometimes adorned with gold jewelry, discreetly emphasizes the size of dresses and skirts.

Tweed loves colors

Emblematic of the house of Chanel, the tweed suit has continued to reinvent itself since its creation in the 50s. Here tweed is not only available in a black and white duo graphic, but comes in pastel colors and meets pastel and bright colors.

The games of length and transparency

All in freshness and lightness, this Chanel haute couture collection plays with lengths and transparency. This is evidenced by embroidered, ruffled and pleated dresses that celebrate the know-how of the house’s workshops.

Evening dresses in Gabrielle’s wake

Another revolution of Gabrielle Chanel is the evening dress, which she oversimplifies. Following her first crepe dresses, Paul Poiret is said to have said of the seamstress that she dresses poor people. History will prove her right, and her dresses will become timeless.

Two-tone shoes for day and night

Launched in 1957, Chanel’s two-tone shoes are not the result of a creative coincidence. Designed by Gabrielle Chanel, her signature shoes are designed to enhance the legs and be worn day or night. This is evidenced by the shoes of the show, available in black and white, or blue, black and black.

All Chanel haute couture spring-summer 2025 looks