Lauren Sherman at Puck just reported that Matthieu Blazy will be announced as Chanel’s new Creative Director on 16 December. “Blazy will steer Chanel’s overall vision, but he will not be responsible for every piece of the puzzle, and there are few designers at his level who would accept that. The Chanel executive team have also made it clear that they would like the next designer to stick around for 10 or 20 more years,” she said. I’m interested to see if the ‘guest editor’ approach that we’re seeing more and more of in fashion (Jean Paul Gaultier’s guest couture designers, Christopher Kane for Self Portrait, Marc Jacobs at Vogue…) will come into play here. As he gets comfy in the role, will he invite in new talent as a strategy to keep the brand feeling fresh and culturally relevant, whilst he keeps tabs on the overall vision and its focus on craft and precision? To me, that feels like the future of big houses, and and an evolution of the collab era that feels more elevated and mature.