We’ve seen it at the Oscars, we’ve seen it at the Brits. Despite there being no official menswear line, the French Maison looks seriously good on men. Here’s why.
At the Oscars this month, a mustache-free Pedro Pascal (big news as his facial hair was the blueprint for Hackney baristas and pet nat bros) pulled up to the red carpet in full Chanel. He ditched the jacket in favour of a crispy white tuxedo shirt, with an XL floral brooch, cummerbund, and trousers. In the same week, Harry Styles closed out his Saturday Night Live hosting debut (and headed to the afterparty) wearing a leopard-printed jacket from the French Maison’s Pre-Fall 2026 collection. It was tweedy, cropped, boxy, finished with accented trim.
Pascal’s Oscars look was custom-made and fitted immaculately. With no jacket, it put a very afters-ready slant on things, but the oversized accessory adorning his torso kept it smart, statement-packed and polished. Styles’ jacket is actually a component of a leopard print skirt-suit debuted on the runway of the brand’s Métiers d’art 2026 show in New York (he also wore the leopard flap bag from this collection while out with his girlfriend Zoë Kravitz). But in New York, he paired it a white tee, straight-fitting jeans, and black The Row loafers – deeply solid, classic menswear stuff, put into boost mode with the statement outerwear. Jacob Elordi pulled a similar move at the Los Angeles photocall of Wuthering Heights, wearing a sexy stand-collar cropped jacket from the Spring/Summer 2026 collection.
Via Getty Images
These are high-profile guys, at high-profile events, wearing high-profile Chanel. But the brand doesn’t make menswear officially, despite making A$AP Rocky an ambassador in November last year following a viral campaign that saw him propose to actor Margaret Qualley. The musician joins Thai actor Norawit Titicharoenrak, and eyewear poster boy Kendrick Lamar in its male flag-flying ranks.
When you see these guys doing their thing in Chanel, their looks are often custom or plucked from the women’s offering. So if the run of stellar fits from internet boyfriends has got you excited about the prospect of an official men’s line, don’t get your hopes up. It’s probably not going to happen. As recently as 2024, in a Chanel earnings call, CEO Leena Nair put the rumours to bed, stating “it’s going to be the same answer. No, we are not planning to enter men’s. But I’m very happy when I see men all over the world wearing Chanel,” Vogue Business reported.
Via Getty Images, Chanel
No menswear line doesn’t mean no men in Chanel. Karl Lagerfeld, who helmed design at the House from 1983 until 2019, was the first to introduce men’s looks into the mix, first sprinkled into his Autumn/Winter 2004 collection. These were extremely difficult to get hold of, usually seen on guys like Pharrell Williams, who walked in Chanel’s Métiers d’Art runway in December 2016 and collaborated on a unisex capsule collection, pulling on his own streetwear-leaning style in 2019.
But if you’re wondering why the new Chanel is looking extra good on men lately, look at Matthieu Blazy. He was appointed as the brand’s Artistic Director of Fashion Collections in December 2024. The move followed a roughly four-year stint turbocharging Bottega Veneta with a wacky pragmatism, where jeans were made from leather, and flowy, boxy tailoring became a signature. His first fashion gig was as an intern at Balenciaga under Nicolas Ghesquière in 2005. Then, came a short subsequent run at John Galliano the next year, before joining Raf Simons’ namesake label as a menswear designer from 2007-2011.
Via Getty Images, Chanel
As far as education goes, CVs don’t get much better than this. Simons’ label merged knife-edge tailoring with rebellious, subculture-informed bomber jackets, parkas, and oversized jumpers. In short, Blazy learned the rules and how to break them, and he honed and sharpened these skills across numerous design gigs from Masion Margiela to Céline when it still had the accent, with Phoebe Philo at the helm. The thread between the gigs? There’s a focus on wearable, and sometimes wacky clothes that elevate the everyday into something wholly luxurious.
Then there’s the fact that a lot of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s original designs drew from menswear. The brand’s tweed and boucle suits referenced the tailoring worn by the Duke of Westminster. She was also influenced by the refined, structured uniforms of soldiers in Moulin. Couple that with Blazy’s menswear pedigree, and you’ve got fashion dynamite that appeals to both sides of the gendered dressing spectrum. For Chanel’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection, Blazy honoured Ms Chanel’s design essentialism that liberated women’s fashion by borrowing from men’s designs, captioned “borrowed from the boys” on the brand’s website.
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Take for example, the run of shirts embroidered with a cursive logo below the chest in the brand’s SS26 collection. It was made by French shirtmaker Charvet, the Place Vendôme spot that has been crafting custom-made shirts for more than 200 years. Traditionally a men’s shirtmaker, it’s known for its premium bespoke service, and ultra high-quality construction, where clients hand-pick their fabrics and pocket and collar shape. The Chanel version was heavy at the hem and finished with chain detailing, a technique used in Coco Chanel’s designs to ensure garments held their form. Naturally, they have a unisex appeal, looking as good on Nicole Kidman on the front row as on Jacob Elordi, who rocked the salmon pink version on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
Via @jimmykimmellive, Getty Images
Maybe the reason that Chanel looks so good on men is because it is pulling straight from the menswear playbook, and translating that into a broader, unisex vision. In a world that seems to be regressing in so many aspects, menswear has loosened up. What was once deemed feminine is now fair game for fashion heads. And wearing clothes, bags, and shoes from a womenswear label is not only okay, but a marker you’re truly fitted out – you’ve had to dig for that stuff, and find it in a size that fits. And menswear guys with big pockets are wise to the lure of cropped tweed jackets and Flap blags.
No Chanel for the boys, sure. But there is a lot of very good Chanel the boys can wear.
