Chanel is Returning to Deauville for Cruise 2027: Where Gabrielle Chanel Opened Her First Boutique in 1912

Matthieu Blazy will present his Cruise 2027/28 collection for Chanel on April 27, 2027, in Deauville — and the location is not a romantic gesture. It is a return to the exact place where Gabrielle Chanel’s fashion career began.

In 1912, following her early success as a milliner in Paris, Gabrielle Chanel opened a boutique in Deauville. The following year, she began selling her first fashion pieces there — casual, jersey-based sportswear that upended the conventions of women’s dress and laid the foundation for everything that Chanel would become. Deauville was not a backdrop. It was the origin point.

The choice follows Blazy’s first Cruise show for the house, held in Biarritz — another city with deep roots in Chanel history. “It was in Deauville that Gabrielle Chanel introduced her first fashion pieces, marking a turning point in the history of the House,” said Bruno Pavlovsky, President of Chanel Fashion Activities. “We look forward to discovering Matthieu Blazy’s perspective on this foundational place through his second Cruise collection.”

Photo Credit: Photograph Denise Tual © Collection Denise Tual. Courtesy of CHANEL

Blazy is a designer who reads archives carefully and translates them into something present rather than nostalgic. What he will find in Deauville — the seaside light, the Norman architecture, the particular ease of a place where Gabrielle Chanel first understood that women needed clothes that moved with them — is worth paying close attention to when April arrives.

Chanel Cruise 2027/28 will be presented in Deauville on April 27, 2027.