A Reset Doesn't Mean Starting Over.
New creative energy in these fashion brands spurs an audit of what can be saved, new, and reinvented.
Fashion is having its biggest creative shift in decades. Almost every major luxury house switched creative directors between 2024 and 2026 — Chanel, Gucci, Balenciaga, Alaïa, Versace, Maison Margiela. As someone who follows fashion closely, I had to pay attention to where they’d each take the brand from there.
The one that stood out most is Chanel by Matthieu Blazy. My first impression: lighter, more flowy, the silhouette has more movement. After taking a closer look, I started connecting the dots — the softness, the relaxed flow, the youthfulness — back to Coco Chanel herself. What he did, I think, was go into the archive first. Found the brand codes — the boucle jacket, the camellia, the tweed suit, and figured out what still had life in it, and what had just become... stiff. A suit set. Then he added his own imagination.
What I noticed most is the tweed. Instead of that classic thick structured fabric, he took it apart — paper-thin muslin, airy silk, metallic mesh, hidden embroidered details underneath. Every layer has a different density, all visible through each other. Lighter, more texture, more ways to layer and style, a younger feeling. It’s still unmistakably Chanel, but a garment that actually moves with your body.
We think about this process a lot in our work at Noise 13. When a brand needs a refresh, the first instinct is usually to start over. But the ones that stick around tend to do the opposite. They look back into what made the brand matter in the first place, find those core elements, and figure out how to bring them into the present without losing what made them special.
The archive has to be part of the brief.
Major Creative Director Changes, 2024–2026:
prev. Bottega Veneta
Chanel - Matthieu Blazy
prev. Alaïa
Versace - Pieter Mulier
prev. Y/Project + Diesel
Maison Margiela - Glenn Martens
prev. Balenciaga
Gucci - Demna
prev. Valentino
Balenciaga - Pierpaolo Piccioli
prev. Proenza Schouler
Loewe - McCollough & Hernandez
prev. Loewe
Dior - Jonathan Anderson
When you're ready for a reset, we're here to help. But start with the archive first, you might be surprised by what's still alive in there.
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