The CHANEL Spring-Summer 2025 Ready-to-Wear collection arrived at the Grand Palais with expected spectacle and gravitas. Beneath the surface of sequins and feathers, something subtle stirred. The show's setting—a grand, gleaming birdcage—nodded to liberation and Gabrielle Chanel's legacy of freeing women from societal constraints. While the symbolism of flight and lightness permeated the collection, certain designs seemed poised, waiting to fully spread their wings.
As models traversed the runway beneath the soaring glass roof of the freshly restored Grand Palais, it was impossible not to be struck by the sense of grandeur and history. CHANEL has not shown here in four years, and the return was fittingly dramatic. The opening looks—tailored aviator jackets with Peter Pan collars, sharply cut trousers, and a trench coat with printed multicolored feathers were all undeniably chic, but one couldn’t help but sense a certain cautiousness. The craftsmanship was immaculate, but in an era where fashion demands innovation and audacity, the designs seemed to walk a tightrope between reverence for the past and a desire to look ahead.
Where the collection took flight was in its exploration of fluidity and freedom. The chiffon capes, the slit skirts that revealed flashes of leg with every step, the wide-cut trousers that moved like liquid on the runway—all of these pieces spoke to a woman unburdened, who finds joy in movement. Here, the design team’s vision for the future of CHANEL felt most clear: clothes that are as liberating to wear as they are to look at. Feather prints, embroidered bird motifs, and the airy transparency of certain pieces played into the theme of flight, giving the collection an ethereal quality that hinted at what the House could be in this next phase.
Yet, for all its moments of brilliance, there were elements that felt heavy-handed. The feathers—while stunning in their delicate detailing—became an overplayed note, repeated so often that their impact began to wane. In moderation, they offered a whimsical nod to freedom and flight, but when they appeared on jackets, skirts, and even handbags, the motif felt less like an intentional design choice and more like a fallback. At times, it seemed CHANEL’s in-house team was leaning too much on this visual shorthand, rather than pushing for more nuanced ways to explore the collection’s central themes.
And then there was the denim. Sequined and fringed, these pieces attempted to inject youthfulness but felt disconnected from the collection's ethereal narrative. While CHANEL has mastered elevating the ordinary, here the denim created discord against the airy atmosphere. The collection's strengths emerged elsewhere.
Still, there were undeniable highlights. The reimagined tweeds—softer, lighter, with a touch of sparkle—reminded us of CHANEL’s ability to transform even its most iconic elements into something fresh. The pastel knits and feather-trimmed eveningwear floated down the runway like a dream, evoking the carefree elegance that CHANEL has always done so well. The playfulness of the collection, with its flowing skirts and cheeky slits, felt like a wink to a younger audience, one that’s drawn to the brand for its ability to balance tradition with modernity.
The show’s finale—Riley Keough performing “When Doves Cry” from a swing suspended above the runway was a theatrical moment that felt both poignant and powerful. Keough, clad in a black chiffon cape, seemed to embody the spirit of the collection: free, unapologetically bold, and slightly untethered. It was a fitting end to a collection that, for all its beauty, left one wondering what’s next.
There’s no denying that CHANEL’s Spring-Summer 2025 show was a visual triumph. It captured the essence of freedom, of breaking free from constraints, of a house that refuses to be bound by tradition. But it also underscored the urgency of finding a creative leader who can steer the luxury House into the future with confidence. The in-house team has done an admirable job of holding the reins, but the collection lacked the sharpness and cohesive vision that we’ve come to expect from the luxury House at its best.
In the end, CHANEL delivered a collection that was rich in symbolism and undeniably beautiful. But as the House continues to navigate this period of transition, one thing is clear: it is poised for something bigger, something bolder. The birdcage has been opened, but CHANEL needs a visionary to truly set it free.
