Chanel’s Bruno Pavlovsky on Reengineering an Iconic Brand

In the space of just a few seasons — since 41-year-old design whiz Matthieu Blazy staged his debut show at Paris’ Grand Palais in October 2025 — luxury stalwart Chanel has become one of fashion’s hottest brands.

Much of the luxury sector remains mired in a multi-year downturn. After a post-Covid fashion binge, customers have pulled back and shifted spend to other categories amid unjustified price hikes. Chanel was hardly spared such criticisms, and yet its time in the doldrums was brief: Sales rose 2 percent last year after sliding in 2024.

Momentum accelerated to a high-single-digit growth rate in the first months of 2026 as excitement for Blazy’s refreshed vision took hold, the brand said in May.

Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel’s fashion division since 2004 and a key player in its turnaround, carefully orchestrated Blazy’s onboarding as well as the successful rollout of his debut collection to stores.

For the latest edition in our State of Fashion series, Pavlovsky explains how the French couture giant has restored customer excitement — and sales momentum — by carefully balancing continuity and reinvention.

BoF: The response to Matthieu Blazy’s first collections for Chanel has leaned very positive. How did the brand work with him to restore momentum at Chanel?

Bruno Pavlovsky: Matthieu took nearly a year to establish his point of view, his vision for the brand. He entered Chanel through the essentials, because he was interested in Mademoiselle Chanel and her legacy. His first steps have been very anchored in the brand, and that anchoring gives him the freedom to go where he wants to go.

It is difficult to move on from Karl Lagerfeld; it’s 35 years of a genius everyone looked up to. Then Virginie [Viard]’s work was very interesting because she took what Karl was doing and feminised it, made it less of a costume.

The most important thing is continuity, but that this continuity be represented in a way that prepares for the future. What Matthieu has done well, clearly, is to propose a mix of things that already existed and new things, creating real continuity while embodying what we want to become.

On our end, we knew Chanel had reached the end of a cycle and needed to restart. But it couldn’t be restarted any time, any way. The planets had to align. If we had done this in 2020 or 2021 there wouldn’t have been the same response.

I wouldn’t say what we’ve done is perfect because I don’t like that term, but in any case it’s been effective, precise and at the level of our clients’ expectations as well as our own.

BoF: What has the impact been so far in stores?

BP: It’s still early days, but the debut collection has generated real interest. Clients who know and love Chanel have come back to stores, and often bought. I hope progressively there will be more new clients, too, because it is always in a brand’s interest to renew its client base.

The brand has returned to solid growth. That does not mean huge growth; we are not seeking huge growth. It’s never a very great sign when there are queues at boutiques — the next phase after queues is always no queues. We want to arrive at something that is well managed and anticipated.

But we see growth across all product lines, with ready-to-wear accelerating. And the acceleration in ready-to-wear is clearly the Matthieu effect. For leather goods, the work done on the Sac 25 — our campaigns with Dua Lipa, Jennie and Margot Robbie — also helped restore a positive dynamic.

BoF: People have been increasingly critical of luxury prices, particularly Chanel’s. Has price perception improved since revamping the collections?

BP: Some people had grown a bit weary of Chanel, and price became their argument.

Chanel has not lowered prices. There has been no change to the quality. The work has been done under the same conditions, by the same suppliers, with the same seriousness. And yet price feels less present in the discussion. Price perception is tied to interest — and Matthieu’s arrival has restored interest and meaning across categories.

BoF: Matthieu Blazy’s sophomore show — Métiers d’Art in December — was staged in New York. Why did Chanel want to take its new vision to the United States so soon?

BP: New York is important to Chanel’s history; Matthieu loves New York. It was primarily an artistic choice. It was also about going straight to the essential. After his debut show at the Grand Palais — because he had to take on the Grand Palais — New York felt like the logical second city.

BoF: The US luxury market has been more resilient than other regions in recent years. Is that still true for Chanel?

BP: The American economy has held up well. There was concern at one point about the US dollar weakening against the euro, which made our prices higher, but the increase was well absorbed.

BoF: Wealth is very decentralised in the US. How does Chanel connect with customers across this vast country?

BP: Wealth is decentralised but pockets are nonetheless well-identified. [After New York] there are three main zones: California, Texas and Florida. In each of those regions we have initiatives underway.

BoF: What do customers expect from a Chanel boutique today?

BP: A store has to do many things at once. We have clients who come three times in a week and others who visit once a year. They want to look around and discover; they also want privacy and discretion.

BoF: Since 2023, luxury brands have been struggling to revive demand in China. How is Chanel performing in this market?

BP: China has been experiencing real difficulties: in real estate, in the economy generally. But Chanel has been very resilient. Engagement with our biggest clients has remained the same. The number of big clients remained the same.

Our obsession in China — like in every country — has been to lead with ready-to-wear and let handbags accompany the silhouette. We did not open dedicated accessories stores like our competitors. Leather goods is the category that has suffered most, and we were far less dependent.

We do have some one-time clients who have yet to return, but we see encouraging signs. We opened a shoe boutique at IFC Hong Kong, which is doing very well. Shoes are a good way of recruiting clients into the brand, and since Matthieu’s arrival the shoes are edgier and sharper than what we were doing before.

BoF: Many brands have refreshed their image and collections over the past year. But few have seen that translate to store traffic yet. How do you explain Chanel’s success in go-to-market?

BP: There has always been a considerable distance between the clients who come to the boutique and the clients — or rather fans — online. Chanel, the brand, never stopped generating interest. Matthieu’s arrival has reinforced that interest. He has perfectly integrated the heritage of Mademoiselle Chanel, of Karl. But his work also makes space for more freedom, more audacity in an intelligent way.

His pieces are at times unexpected, but meet the expectation of our clients. I find the success of some of his edgier, more striking designs quite promising — there is an audience for that new energy.

There are a lot of smiles at Chanel at the moment — a lot of energy, and that is priceless.

BoF: After this year of transformation, what can Chanel do to keep up the momentum?

BP: There is still a long road ahead. What is important to me above all is that Chanel remains the ultimate luxury in product and experience.

We need to understand when to evolve the way we work. But our values, the fundamentals, remain the same.

We can ask whether we are still in the right tone and the right rhythm, while continuing with those fundamentals that have made the brand powerful and strong until now.

BoF: In terms of refreshing your teams, what sort of roles or functions are you investing in?

BP: Ateliers and stores. Our ateliers in a broad sense — meaning our studio, manufacturers, haute couture, embroiderers and more — are attractive to young people currently, but there is a whole support process that must be put in place to bring them up to the right level. Craft, handiwork are fundamental.

At the other end of the chain, investing in the client experience in boutiques. Ultimate luxury today is to offer our clients great freedom. What does that mean? It means listening to the client, proposing, not constraining, finding the right distance, etcetera.

We have talented, motivated employees in stores around the world but they need to be constantly nourished in order to feel engaged with what’s going on at the brand.

BoF: Chanel says it has no plans to launch menswear. And yet the brand keeps naming male ambassadors: Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, Pedro Pascal. Why?

BP: Because these men speak very well about Chanel, and because they love what is happening here. Chanel is not going to produce a men’s collection. But if men find what they’re looking for in our stores, we won’t stop them from buying. Having male ambassadors shows the brand’s stance of openness toward today’s world.

This article first appeared in ‘Face to Face With Luxury Clients’ , the latest edition in our State of Fashion series co-published by BoF Insights and McKinsey & Company.

This interview has been edited and condensed.