Of all the people I see on the New York City subway every day, Tilda Swinton, Jon Bon Jovi, Meg Ryan, Margaret Qualley, and A$AP Rocky were not on my bingo card for… well, ever.
Alas, Chanel and its new designer, the French-Belgian Matthieu Blazy, invited them—us—to descend into a not-so-abandoned subway station in downtown Manhattan with the promise of his much anticipated sophomore show for the label and his first “Métiers d’Art” proposal for the brand. Inclement weather be damned: Attendees sat on the side of the impressively tidied subway platform to see the show, and later ventured to Webster Hall for an after party featuring a DJ set by Honey Dijon and double C-shaped pretzels.
“Chanel did a better job cleaning up the subway than Eric Adams ever did,” read a friend’s text. He’s right: This subway platform, an inactive stop known as the Old Bowery station, smelled much better than any other in the city, and even featured a very handsome newspaper kiosk attendee (handing out Chanel’s very own La Gazette, created for the occasion) and pretend turnstiles for those VICs (very important clients) who’ve possibly never experienced the MTA. (There was a wall-to-wall selfie mirror, too.) The same 500-strong group was treated to a special performance of The Nutcracker on Monday night, plus a cocktail pre-fête at The Frick. Yesterday we were driven to and from the show—to and from the subway—in a float of black cars. The whole thing could have been very “let them eat cake” had it not been so charming and earnestly fun.
This very venue has been a movie set and played host to another fashion show before, for Tom Ford in 2019. Blazy, who lived in the city while working at Calvin Klein, kept it true to form and had his models play the part of classic New Yorkers with a side of whimsy: They jogged to hop on the train, took flirty glances as doors closed, and looked longingly out its windows.
Courtesy of Chanel
