Blazy’s much-raved-about interpretation of Bottega Veneta placed craft at the core of the label. I interviewed Blazy back in summer 2024 – in retrospect, as his negotiations with Chanel had just begun. A line leaps out: “The idea of craft, something well made that lasts and that travels in time and in emotions. You can pass it on. It’s something precious.” An easily transferable idea from BV to double C. That said, the shift between Blazy’s leadership of these labels is significant – from Milan to Paris, from an accessories label established in 1966 under the ethos “when your own initials are enough” to a house rooted in the sensibilities of its founder and marked ceaselessly with that double-C insignia. Moreover, Bottega Veneta is a young house with very little history – Chanel, by contrast, is mired in it, occasionally weighed down by its legacy. Or rather, legacies – there are two. Gabrielle Chanel was the only fashion designer who featured in Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential figures of the 20th century, of which she undoubtedly was one. Blazy also has the talent of Lagerfeld preceding him, a legend within his own lifetime. If Lagerfeld didn’t change the way people dress, he certainly transformed how the industry operates and the wider public perception of what a fashion designer is.
Blazy, however, bears that load easily. It helps that he has a healthy fascination with the past – and not just in terms of that could-be background in archaeology. His father took him to auction sales as a child; today, he scours auction sites constantly for art, objects, furniture and, of course, clothes. At Margiela, his final collection, for Autumn/Winter 2014, included an original coat created by Paul Poiret in 1911, a piece Blazy found himself, as well as 1940s brooches used to fasten a white shirt in place of buttons by the designer Line Vautrin. Her jewellery later became fetish objects for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen of The Row, used in their own fashion shows – which demonstrates, to a degree, the wider influence of Blazy’s aesthetic, where an artful refinement meets an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach. Now, and next, it’s Blazy’s task, and presumably pleasure, to rewrite an already well-rewritten history.