Irony runneth over for Bhavitha Mandava, an India-born and educated architect who moved to New York City to join NYU’s program in assistive technology. One day this gorgeous young woman with a big brain and a ‘smile to die for’ was scouted on the New York subway as an exclusive in Matthieu Blazy’s Bottega Veneta Spring/Summer 2025 show.
That event was only the beginning for Mandava. When Blazy moved to Chanel shortly after, the new girl went with him. In record time, this young woman ambassador for the uber-challenging, big rewards for women winners breaking through barriers in New York City would open the Chanel Métiers d’Art 2026 Show in New York City.
Where did we find Bhavitha Mandava the night of December 2, 2025? Back in the subway.
CHANEL ambassador Penelope Cruz covers the Fashion 2026 issue of W Magazine China [IG], wearing key pieces from the Matthieu Blazy’s October in Paris Spring 2026 collection. Blazy’s CHANEL woman is more expressive, free and alive with vitality.
The Chanel woman is absolutely more modern than under Lagerfeld. Not younger, just more modern. Cruz is styled by Austin Feng, with images by Zhong Lin [IG].
Elordi was equally relaxed as an Aussie man chilling with fellow Aussie Robbie in a Bottega Veneta jacket, tank top and pants. One uses the word ‘jacket’ loosely.On Robbie, it’s a shrug or cardigan.
What’s obvious to AOC is the growing numbers of men being totally relaxed wearing femme fashion.
No intellectual edict is required by the designer. They’re just doing it — like Pharrell was doing in Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld a decade ago. No star designer is creating this look in 2026, even though one will probably claim it.
New super [Models.com] Mona Tougaard showcases Chanel’s Spring 2026 Matthieu Blazy debut for W Magazine China’s [IG] February 2026 Fashion issue. Austin Feng styles Mona’s four covers and fashion spread, lensed by Zhong Lin [IG]. / Hair by Evanie Frausto; makeup by Fulvia Farolfi
Players is a 2025 project by Carine Roitfeld and her son Vladimir Roitfeld, focusing on the intersection of sports and style. The premium, large-format magazine features athletes and fashion icons in curated editorial content.
AOC noticed this morning the “First Annual Players of the Year” where the Players IG highlights “the best dressed talent across sports, fashion, and entertainment” with one pick in a category.
Players wrote about Best Designer Debut and Best Dressed Man:
A$AP Rocky just became Chanel’s new house ambassador, right as Matthieu Blazy’s debut turns the industry on its head.
The international model lineup in Vogue’s Chanel story includes Abény Nhial, Achol Ayor, Aditsa Berzenia, Awar Odhiang, Bhoomi Yadav, Charlotte Boggia, Dru Campbell, Feng Jiao Long, Luiza Perote and Zaya Guarani, styled by Amanda Harlech in images by Rafael Pavarotti [IG]. / Hair by Karim Belghiran; makeup by Ammy Drammeh
Blazy is an empath; hands down. AOC has written about his leadership style, mixed with his creative curiosity, and prior overt gestures to get the recognition for the women in his Bottega Veneta atelier that they deserved.
Jonathan Anderson is supposed to be the boy wonder creative designer we’re all trying to swoon over, but increasingly it seems like Blazy’s the one to watch.
AOC’s response to quiet Chanel news was OMG! But of course Matthieu Blazy [IG] will use Louise & Maria Thornfeldt at Chanel [IG]. And these fabulous details photographs truly bring Blazy’s Chanel debut collection to life.
These are some of the best photos AOC has seen in revealing textures and details up close and personal. And the show backdrop is stellar, even cosmic.
The textures, the weaves and embellishments. The jewelry and attitude of modernity. It’s also about Matthieu Blazy’s relationship with women — which is quite extraordinary from what I’ve read.
The woman of the hour the day after Matthieu Blazy blew the doors off the House of Chanel with his monumental October 6, 2025 Chanel Spring 2026 debut is Awar Odhiang.
Not only did Odhiang become the third Black model in history to close a Chanel show. Blazy’s goodwill closer circled the catwalk like she owned the place and wanted a uniquely-memorable sendoff for the top dog of Paris Fashion Week.
The ancestors were rockin’ and yes — Coco had Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel by her side and even Karl Lagerfeld had a front row seat in the divine universe and was god-blessing Blazy over and over and over again. Lagerfeld always championed exceptional talent.
Supermodel and Chanel ambassador Liu Wen takes three covers for W Magazine China [IG] #15 2025 The Artisan Issue. Austin Feng styles Liu Wen in images lensed by Paul Wetherell [IG].
Liu Wen is wearing Chanel’s new ‘Reach for the Stars’ High Jewelery Collection, honoring iconic symbols of human civilization and Gabrielle Chanel’s legacy. Three symbols are the core of Chanel’s ‘Reach for the Stars’ High Jewelery Collection: the lion, the comet and, introduced for the first time, wings that are reimagined as contemporary icons of the maison.
How to make Chanel [IG] tweed suits once again a must-have for ‘it girls’ is surely a high priority on Matthieu Blazy’s October debut ‘To Do’ List.
Until then, in the Fall Winter 2025 campaign, we see Mona Tougaard out and about on the streets of Paris. As for rewriting codes, that’s Blazy’s job and this was a caretaker collection now on view in campaign images by Mikael Jansson [IG].
Fresh off her 2023 success as ‘Barbie’ and a personal decision to take some time off for fear that audiences might be “sick of the sight of her” after her camera’s flashing daily global press tour, actor Margot Robbie has returned to our lives on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar France [IG] August 2025 issue.
The Chanel ambassador is styled by Andrew Mukamal exclusively in Chanel, with images by Colin Dodgson [IG]. Atelier Franck Durand provides creative direction./ Hair by Bryce Scarlett; makeup by Pati Dubroff
The Cardinal who originally built Villa d’Este in 1568 with architect Pellegrino Tibaldi — home of Chanel’s recent Resort 2025/26 show was Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio. The Cardinal was a self-made man by all reports, a thinker deeply influenced by the movement AOC continually calls out, thanks to Brunello Cucinelli. The philosophy is called ‘humanism’ and even ‘Christian humanism’.
As AOC noted in Anne’s recent post examining the religious views of the controversial US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and his embrace of Christian Nationalism and the Crusades, Arab world universities were instrumental in translating and preserving ancient Greek and Roman texts, which would later be transmitted to Europe and spur on the Renaissance.
Anne of Carversville works really hard to find new twists and turns in historical stories for which we believe we have the facts. The role of the Arab world in intellectual discussion and debate about Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and more in Europe’s most valued and prominent universities in the early Renaissance is one of those stories.
Singer-songwriter Dua Lipa is the face of the new CHANEL 25 handbag.
In the film directed by Gordon von Steiner, Lipa arrives at a studio in New York City for a Chanel fashion photo shoot. Posing with the 25 bag, a much-needed, hold-everything accessory for people on the go, Dua Lipa sings along to the ‘80s hit “She Drives Me Crazy” by the Fine Young Cannibals.
Master actor Tilda Swinton covers the December 2024 issue of Vogue Taiwan [IG] December 2024, styled in the all-Chanel fashion story by Jerry Stafford in images by Zhong Lin [AOC].
Chanel in Japan for Chanel and Cinema Tokyo Lights Photocall
Chanel ambassador Tilda Swinton, represented the luxury brand in a new event: the Chanel and Cinema — Tokyo Lights Photocall.
Chanel launched the new program to enhance its support for emerging cinema talent by partnering up with acclaimed Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda. The luxury brand will sponsor three films, selected from the Tokyo Lights project, showcasing them in Tokyo and Paris.
Chanel’s Hangzhou 2024/25 Métiers d’art Show on December 3, 2024
Tilda Swinton also touched down in China, in advance of Chanel’s Hangzhou 2024/25 Métiers d’art show “on the mythical West Lake” on December 3.
German filmmaker and author ‘Wim’ Wenders, a major figure in New German Cinema, joined the project and Chanel ambassador Tilda Swinton in a short film where Wenders follows Swinton as she explores Coco Chanel’s office on Rue Cambon,, before the creative team journeys to the iconic lake in China. See the 4 minute film.
Rising South Sudan model Alaato Jazyper is styled by Claudia Sinclair in an all-Chanel fashion story lensed by Charlotte Wales [IG] for Re-Edition Magazine[IG] 2024./ Hair by Kiyoko Odo; makeup by Lynski
In 2018, Margot Robbie launched Chanel’s first Coco Neige campaign, which was Chanel's first official subbrand for ski and après-ski wear. Featured in these images by the now-passed creative director Karl Lagerfeld himself, Robbie spoke very fondly about the experience of working with the head of the House of Chanel from 1983-2019.
AOC visited the the original campaign after posting the new Chanel Coco Neige 2024/5 campaign, lensed by Juergen Teller with model Loli Bahia. Asking a question of our precious AI about Coco Chanel and if she actually skied, Anne fell down a rabbit hole that has reoriented her entire thinking about Chanel.
Her interest in skiing was not only a personal pastime but also a social event that allowed her to mingle with the elite, continually fueling her creative vision in the process and also captivating new clients for her brand.
Coco had a profound and enduring level of help from her friend, financier, collaborator and lover Arthur "Boy" Capel in penetrating this elite St. Moritz society.
Model Loli Bahia is photographed by Juergen Teller[IG] in the apartment of Gabrielle Chanel at 31, rue Cambon in Paris wearing CHANEL COCO NEIGE 2024/25 collection. / Hair by James Pecis; makeup by Lisa Butler
AOC can’t verify that weather prediction for major ski resorts in Europe. But if you are wearing Chanel Coco Neige for cocooning at a ski lodge, you probably have global options regarding where to land the plane.
Chanel ‘Coco Neige’ History
The first Coco Neige collection and campaign dropped in 2018, created by luxury visionary uber-talent Karl Lagerfeld and starring Margot Robbie. Coco Neige promoted itself as a combination of high-tech clothing and winter ready-to-wear.
Riley Keough became a Chanel ambassador with the release of the brand’s Spring/Summer 2024 campaign shot in Hyères, in the heart of the South of France.
French food wasn’t on Riley’s mind when asked by ELLE UK to imagine hosting a dinner party with her also-famous friends Dakota Johnson, Kristen Stewart and Zoë Kravitz. “Dakota would set the table, pick the things out, make everything look nice, and pick the flowers.”
Natasha Wray styles Keough in the all-Chanel fashion story lensed by Olivia Malone [IG], with Riley discussing her new memoir, picking up the unfinished pages after her mother’s death.
Chanel Beauty [IG] turned to rising model Britt Oosten for a high-impact editorial styled by Kasia Mioduska. Ukraine to Berlin photographer Anna Daki [IG] is in the studio for Vogue Poland July 2024./ Hair by Vincent Zimberlin; makeup by Eny Whitehead
Models Alaato Jazyper, Loli Bahia and Lulu Tenney faced Chanel’s [IG] Pre-Fall 2024 Campaign. Ib Kamara styled the trio in images by Mikael Jansson [IG]. / Hair by Shay Ashual; makeup by Hannah Murray
