NEW YORK (AP) — Chanel’s new showman, Matthieu Blazy, took his designs on the road Tuesday — or rather, underground, with a buzzy New York runway show staged on an actual subway platform.
The designer, just weeks after his splashy Paris debut for Chanel in October, took over a decommissioned part of Manhattan's Bowery station for his first Métiers d’Art collection. The annual show, which takes place in a different city each year, celebrates the craftsmanship of the artisans that partner with Chanel.
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Bowen Yang attends the CHANEL 2025/26 Métiers d'art fashion show at Bowery subway station, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)
A model walks the runway during the CHANEL 2025/26 Métiers d'art fashion show at Bowery subway station, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)
Models walk the runway during the CHANEL 2025/26 Métiers d'art fashion show at Bowery subway station on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)
Models walk the runway during the CHANEL 2025/26 Métiers d'art fashion show at Bowery subway station on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)
Models walk the runway during the CHANEL 2025/26 Métiers d'art fashion show at Bowery subway station on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)
In this case, it was two shows — one in the afternoon and one in the evening. And befitting the first Chanel shows in New York since 2018, there were VIPs aplenty: A$AP Rocky, Tilda Swinton, Ayo Edebiri, Rose Byrne, Kristen Stewart, Sofia Coppola, Lupita Nyong’o, Jessie Buckley, Margaret Qualley, Bowen Yang, Jon Bon Jovi and many others.
The location had been a closely held secret. Guests entered via a doorway at 168 Bowery, and at first, it seemed like Chanel had perhaps decorated an event space to resemble a subway station, complete with tiled walls, turnstiles and a newsstand (with its own bespoke newspapers).
But down a flight of stairs was the real platform. Guests settled into bleacher seats resembling subway benches. “Stand clear of the closing doors!” came the announcement on the soundtrack, familiar to New Yorkers. Then a train came rolling in, and out of the cars came the models.
The show was a marked contrast in vibe with the last Métiers d’Art collection in New York in 2018, when the late designer Karl Lagerfeld took over the Egyptian Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for what felt like a mini-Met Gala, with clothes channeling the luxury of Egyptian royalty.
Blazy was inspired not by royalty but by ordinary urban commuters, of different ages and types, coming together in a mashup of styles from different eras, from the 1920s onward.
“The New York subway belongs to all,” the designer said in his show notes. "Everyone uses it. There are students and game-changers, statesmen and teenagers. It is a place full of wonderful encounters, a clash of pop archetypes.”
His models strolled the platform, some checking for arriving trains — feigning annoyance at their lateness — or leaning against a post as they waited. Their numbers increased until, by the end, there was a virtual rush hour of fashion, with the eclectic soundtrack playing the “Happy Days” theme song as a finale.
Some of these commuters wore classic Chanel suits — perhaps with an “I (Heart) NY” T-shirt — and others, tweed coats, flowing black capes or brightly patterned skirts. All were intended to show off the craftsmanship involved.
“This felt like breaking the system,” said Stewart, speaking after the afternoon show. “I genuinely had an emotional response to the show. I felt like I just saw so many different versions of a person walking. It wasn't one woman."
Stewart, like others, had no idea going in what the show’s theme would be, and thought the subway environment felt like “a flurry of fleeting caught moments.”
“Like, ‘Where is she going?’ I wanted to go with them,” Stewart said. “I believed in it. All of this is artifice, but when you do a really good impression of the truth, you find your own. This felt real to me.”
It was real enough that Chanel had printed its own “newspaper” — called La Gazette — to accompany the show, with articles and interviews. An interview with Blazy quoted the designer as saying the collection was inspired partly by the 1931 visit to New York of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel.
And he sang the praises of the subway.
“It’s almost like it’s the vortex of the city," Blazy said. "It connects everything.”
Bowen Yang attends the CHANEL 2025/26 Métiers d'art fashion show at Bowery subway station, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)
A model walks the runway during the CHANEL 2025/26 Métiers d'art fashion show at Bowery subway station, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)
Models walk the runway during the CHANEL 2025/26 Métiers d'art fashion show at Bowery subway station on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)
Models walk the runway during the CHANEL 2025/26 Métiers d'art fashion show at Bowery subway station on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)
Models walk the runway during the CHANEL 2025/26 Métiers d'art fashion show at Bowery subway station on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP)
KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) — Nearly 15 years after his first Soldier Ride, Bill Hansen joined dozens of other wounded veterans on Friday as they cycled along the Overseas Highway, including the Seven Mile Bridge, for the annual Florida Keys event.
A total of 45 men and women, as well as their supporters, are participating in the cycling event organized by the Wounded Warrior Project.
“I wake up in pain every single day. I’ve gotten used to a level of pain,” Hansen said. “And so doing physical fitness, things like this, I know I’m gonna be in a little bit of pain, but it’s worth it for my mental health and for just my comradery with other vets.”
Hansen, who served more than two decades in the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army National Guard, participated in his first Soldier Ride in Phoenix in 2012. He said he had suffered a serious neck and back injury and become addicted to pain medication before connecting with the Wounded Warrior Project. Hansen was able to make friends with other injured veterans and form a support system that remains in place.
“One of my bucket list events is to ride a bike over the Seven Mile Bridge,” Hansen said. “I mean, what an iconic thing to do, and it’s part of America, part of our heritage. And so this is gonna be fun for me, because I get to do this. Plus, I’m gonna be able to help other vets.”
The ride through the Keys started Friday and runs through the weekend. While some riders are missing one or more limbs after combat injuries, the veterans are using bicycles fitted with special adaptive equipment. Other injuries, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, are not so visible.
“The path to healing always starts with movement,” Wounded Warrior Project CEO Walter Piatt said. “This is about getting them outside, getting them reconnected with people they serve with, and people are going through the same thing they are.”
The group started their day with a 17-mile (27-kilometer) ride from a Key Largo VFW post to the Theater of the Sea in Islamorada. Following lunch at the Marathon fire station, riders traveled another 10 miles (16 miles), including over the Seven Mile Bridge, and stopped for the day in Big Pine Key.
A large crowd of Coral Shores High School students cheered on the warriors during a break in Tavernier, but smaller groups of residents lined the route as riders made their way through the island chain.
“I want them to see that we appreciate what they do,” Keys resident Carol Dieck said.
The Wounded Warrior Project's cross-country and Keys bicycle trips provide inspiration and rehabilitative opportunities for injured soldiers, while raising money for others recovering in American military hospitals. The funds generated help foster veterans’ independence, develop peer-mentoring programs and arrange transport between home and hospital when needed.
The Florida Keys Soldier Ride continues Saturday through Key West, with an additional community ride where the public can cycle with the warriors. And finally they will spend Sunday morning swimming with dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon.
U.S. Army veteran Sabrina Bradley, left, takes a group photo at the Veterans Memorial Park after riding in the annual Florida Keys Soldier Ride organized by the Wounded Warrior Project, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Little Duck Key, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
U.S. Navy veteran Jerry Padgett, right, is wheeled into the ocean at the Veterans Memorial Park after riding in the annual Florida Keys Soldier Ride organized by the Wounded Warrior Project, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Little Duck Key, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Wounded veterans ride over the Seven Mile Bridge in the annual Florida Keys Soldier Ride organized by the Wounded Warrior Project, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Marathon, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
People line the street as wounded veterans ride in the annual Florida Keys Soldier Ride organized by the Wounded Warrior Project, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Marathon, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Wounded veterans ride in the annual Florida Keys Soldier Ride organized by the Wounded Warrior Project, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Marathon, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
U. S. Force veteran Spencer Charron rides in the annual Florida Keys Soldier Ride organized by the Wounded Warrior Project, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Marathon, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Wounded Warriors Project CEO Walt Piatt, left, signs an American flag for students outside of the Coral Shores High School as wounded veterans ride in the annual Florida Keys Soldier Ride organized by the Wounded Warrior Project, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Islamorada, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
U.S. Army and Marine veteran William Hansen high-five students as wounded veterans ride in the annual Florida Keys Soldier Ride organized by the Wounded Warrior Project, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Islamorada, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Students from an elementary school hold signs in support as wounded veterans ride past in the annual Florida Keys Soldier Ride organized by the Wounded Warrior Project, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Islamorada, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Students from the Coral Shores High School wave as wounded veterans ride past in the annual Florida Keys Soldier Ride organized by the Wounded Warrior Project, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Islamorada, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Wounded veterans ride past a crowd gathered at Coral Shores High School in the annual Florida Keys Soldier Ride organized by the Wounded Warrior Project, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Islamorada, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
U.S. Marine Corps veteran Matthew Hannon adjusts his helmet before riding in the annual Florida Keys Soldier Ride organized by the Wounded Warrior Project, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Key Largo, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Wounded veterans prepare to start their ride in the annual Florida Keys Soldier Ride organized by the Wounded Warrior Project, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Key Largo, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
