By Chavie Lieber
Last week, Miami content creator Rose Litkowski accompanied her friend to a Chanel boutique to browse the first collection from designer Matthieu Blazy. The friend's husband had asked Litkowski to attend as the voice of reason.
Instead, Litkowski walked out of the boutique with her first Chanel purchase, a $6,200 black leather bag. "I was there to be emotional support and I left needing the support," Litkowski, 30, joked.
The first collection from the new Chanel designer, a 41-year-old fashion-world phenom and the brand's first major creative appointment since Karl Lagerfeld's death in 2019, has prompted a frenzy in New York, Miami and beyond. Online, the craze has been dubbed "Matthieu Mania," as shoppers clamor for animal-print ballet flats, sleek one-piece bathing suits and gigantic tote bags.
Blazy's Chanel designs, which first hit the runway in October, were well-received by fashion fans and critics, who were watching to see how the former Bottega Veneta creative director would take Chanel beyond the aesthetics of Lagerfeld and his successor Virginie Viard. Industry watchers credited Blazy for bringing fresh energy to the house's tweed jackets and cap-toe shoes, which some critics wrote had gotten stale in recent years.
Gab Waller, a Los Angeles-based luxury shopper who locates hard-to-find fashion for clients, said the demand she's fielding for Blazy's first collection has been unprecedented "in my 8 years of sourcing." Waller is currently handling "hundreds" of requests for the brand's ballet flats, denim trousers and croc-embossed belts that are selling out in stores. One purse at the top of everyone's list, Waller said, is an enormous $11,000 leather tote bag that's been spotted on Hailey Bieber and Blackpink's Jennie.
Blazy's square-toe pumps, colorful leather purses and cropped blazers were first available in Paris in early March. Waller believes the strategy of launching in Paris ahead of a global rollout stoked the craze. Editors and content creators who were in town for fashion week helped fuel demand by posting their picks online, building buzz for the collection once it fully rolled out last week.
The brand also sells products in limited quantities to keep interest high, Waller added. Chanel famously does not sell all its offerings online.
"If everyone can get something, it loses its mystique," she said.
Amongst the wealthy shoppers now hitting up Chanel are younger, first-time buyers. The rising prices at luxury brands like Chanel have pushed many aspirational shoppers towards resale, but Blazy's fresh styles are inviting them in, and are even convincing them to pay full-price. Also appealing to younger Chanel shoppers are new, long-handled bags starting at $3,975 -- a more accessible price than other Chanel bags, which can fetch $12,800.
Chanel declined to comment.
Carolyn Chang, a social-media consultant in New York, said she'd always found Chanel to be "a bit cookie-cutter, with the same tweeds and the same silhouettes." She owns secondhand Chanel purses, but never perused its stores because she felt the collections were made for an "older demographic." Last week, though, the 26-year-old found herself browsing Blazy's colorful footwear and handbags. Chang bought animal-print ballet flats, which retail for $1,425. "It's something that can really make your outfit pop," she said.
In December, Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel fashion, told The Wall Street Journal that Chanel revenue hit single-digit growth in 2025. The group generated $18.7 billion in revenue in 2024, according to filings (Chanel has not released 2025 filings). Pavlovsky said that recruiting new clients "is not an obsession at Chanel." With Blazy's first collection release, the brand seems to have found them anyway.
Shelby Satterwhite, who works as a buyer at an off-price company in New York, tends to shop vintage and mid-priced fashion instead of luxury. But after getting a promotion and a bonus, Satterwhite, 31, celebrated by buying a new pair of Chanel shoes. She ordered the animal-print ballet flats through a sales associate, which were hand-delivered. She said she found Blazy's styles to be more "modern" than previous collections and is "excited to see what the next collection holds."
Not everyone is in a craze. Jenn Smith, a Chanel VIP shopper in Boca Raton, Fla., and 49-year-old mother of five, bought clothing from the recent collection but held off on shoes because she "was not in love with the options." She said she prefers Chanel's more classic designs. "I think a lot of hype has been created through influencers," she said.
Elle Ferguson, an Australian influencer who flew to Paris for fashion week, said she'd had her eye on the same tote that Bieber wore. But even 30 hours of flying, a pre-booked shopping appointment and over 680,000 Instagram followers couldn't secure Ferguson the bag of the season. She saw the purse at a Chanel boutique, but Ferguson said she was told that the handbag had been reserved.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 25, 2026 11:45 ET (15:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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