Chanel's Spring/Summer 2027
A biography, told face by face
Chanel's Spring/Summer 2027 beauty kept things simple where it counted. The skin was fresh and looked lit from within, the lids got a wash of silver, and the hair was wound into a whole family of chignons. There weren't many moving parts, but each one had a job.
Matthieu Blazy marked a year at the house by bringing the show back to the Grand Palais in early October, under a ceiling of 95 suspended, illuminated birds. The collection was titled La Conversation, Part Three: Different Faces of the Same Coin. Its 83 looks moved roughly in order through Gabrielle Chanel's life, from the corseted, Edwardian years to the loose tailoring and freedom she later made her signature.
That idea of one woman with many selves is also the key to the beauty. The makeup stayed the same from look to look, and the hair is where the story changed chapters.
The makeup: skin first, then a flash of silver
Lucia Pieroni, Chanel's newly named creative makeup director, built the face around two things. The first was the skin: fresh and illuminated, the kind of finish that looks like good sleep rather than good product. The second was the eyes, with a sweep of silver shadow across the lid.
The silver is what people will remember. It's metallic without tipping into disco, more a sheen than a statement. Chanel wasn't alone in this. Metallic and glitter eyes turned up across the Paris schedule, and at Dior, Peter Philips also used silver, as a liner on otherwise bare, dewy faces.
The silver also echoes Blazy's earlier work. His Fall/Winter 2026 show paired silver lids with silver chignons, some of them woven with tinsel. For spring, the hair dropped the colour but kept the shine, and the silver stayed on the eyes.
The hair: one bun, many personalities
Grazia Singapore counted 57 ways to wear a bun on this runway. Duffy, the house's lead hairstylist, also did hair for Fall/Winter 2026 and Cruise 2027. This season he gave the chignon a different character for each of Gabrielle's eras. The main variations:
The swallow's nest. A round, slightly textured bun, a nod to the birds hanging overhead.
The milliner's coil. A low bun tucked at the nape, straight out of early 20th-century France and Chanel's beginnings as a hat-maker. The David Bailey teaser images showed this one with a deep side part and feather ornaments.
The polished twist. Tight, glossy updos and sleek French twists with zero flyaways, shiny enough to match the silver lids.
The face stays constant, and the hair tells you which Gabrielle you're looking at. It's a neat trick, and it's the clearest link between the beauty and the clothes.
How to wear it off the runway
Keep the base light. Use a sheer skin tint or serum foundation, concealer only where you need it, and a touch of cream highlight on the high points.
Pick a silver with sheen, not chunks. A cream or liquid metallic shadow is the easiest route. Tap it across the lid with a finger and stop at the crease.
Leave the rest alone. Skip heavy liner, keep lashes soft and use a balmy lip. The silver works because nothing is competing with it.
Choose your bun by mood. Go low and coiled at the nape for polish, round and slightly textured for something softer, or a sleek French twist when you want shine. Finish with a little gloss spray.
