Chanel couture gets a breath of fresh air and stars. Armani revamps

PARIS (AP) — Fashion powerhouse Chanel stacked the Paris front row like a movie premiere Tuesday: Nicole Kidman, Dua Lipa, Penélope Cruz, A$AP Rocky, Gracie Abrams, Margaret Qualley.

Then, it handed the spotlight to its new designer, Matthieu Blazy, for his much-anticipated couture debut built on one big, confident swing: joy.

Inside the Grand Palais, the house went full fantasy.

The set was a dream-garden of candy-colored trees and giant pink-and-red mushrooms: a surreal antidote to the gray January day outside, and to the even heavier mood of the world beyond the doors.

Before the first look, Blazy even teased the mood with an animation film of woodland animals at work in the Chanel ateliers, “Cinderella” style: a wink that said this would be couture, but not grim.

Then came the clothes, and the message landed fast: lightness.

Blazy took Chanel’s most famous codes — the suit, the pearls, the chain-weighted hems — and made them feel almost weightless.

A classic skirt suit arrived as a sheer, barely-there version of itself, cut so delicately it looked like air had been tailored.

In a house where tweed can be armor, this was tweed as whisper.

Birds hovered over the collection as a guiding idea: freedom, motion, travel.

Featherlike textures and flighty embroideries fluttered across silhouettes that moved like breath instead of structure.

There were flashes of plumage in color and surface — at times bright, at times raven-dark — and plenty of soft, floating chiffon that made the models look as if they were gliding rather than walking.

The best trick was how the craft wasn't obvious.

Up close, the work was meticulous: a level of handwork couture clients pay for, and ateliers live for.

But the overall effect stayed easy, almost casual; as if the clothes were beautiful without demanding applause.

Blazy played with the artistic technique trompe l’oeil, including a tank top-and-jeans idea reimagined in organza, and with textures that were romantic but also a little strange; couture that winked.

In a brand built on total looks and strong house signatures, Blazy offered something personal: choice.

Models were invited to pick symbols and messages to stitch into the clothes — a love note, a sign, a private mark.

It pushed Chanel away from “uniform” and toward intimacy: couture as a wearable secret, not just a public statement.

The show also had a sense of casting as storytelling.

Blazy’s runways have tended to carry an open, joyful energy, and that continued here — a mix of ages, backgrounds and presences that made the clothes feel lived-in.

Model Bhavitha Mandava, fresh off her viral moment at the house’s Métiers d’Art show, returned.

Later she closed as a couture bride, shimmering and feathered, smiling as if she knew she was ending the scene exactly on the right note.

The soundtrack shifted moods like a DJ set, moving from Disney sweetness to millennial nostalgia — including Moby’s “Porcelain,” and a mashup that blended Oasis’ “Wonderwall” with The Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony.”

By the finale, the room was playing along.

Big sets are easy. Blazy’s debut didn’t try to overpower Chanel with noise or force a new era with aggression. Instead, he made it feel alive.

Silvana Armani stepped forward Tuesday with her first couture collection as creative director of Armani Privé, taking the spotlight after the death of her uncle, Giorgio Armani, in September.

Armani, who worked alongside him for more than four decades, becomes the only woman leading a couture house this season, in a week dominated by high-profile debuts from male designers.

Her debut kept the house’s signature restraint but pushed it toward a lighter, more wearable mood. The lineup was trimmed to about 60 looks, a sharper edit than the brand’s typical scale.

Tailoring opened the show, but softened: relaxed suits, sheer organza shirts with ties, and wide-leg trousers in light layers that moved easily on the runway. Accessories were kept minimal — and hats were left out entirely, a notable change for a house long associated with Giorgio Armani’s love of headwear.

The palette stayed pale and controlled, with celadon and blush tones running through the collection.

Decoration was largely contained to embroidery, with sparkle used selectively rather than as an all-over effect.

Evening looks brought the strongest statements, including crystal-shimmered gowns that read almost weightless, sequins paired casually with wide trousers, and a column dress covered in translucent crystals under a black satin opera coat lined in matching green.

The finale delivered a direct link to the founder: a bridal gown designed by Giorgio Armani for his last Privé collection, shown publicly for the first time.

A model wears a creation as part of the Chanel Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

A model wears a creation as part of the Chanel Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

A model wears a creation as part of the Chanel Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

A$AP Rocky, from left, Margaret Qualley and Vanessa Paradis attend the Chanel Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Designer Matthieu Blazy accepts applause after the Chanel Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Models wear creations as part of the Chanel Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Artemis II astronauts fired their engines and blazed toward the moon Thursday night, breaking free of the chains that have trapped humanity in shallow laps around Earth in the decades since Apollo.

The so-called translunar ignition came 25 hours after liftoff, putting the three Americans and a Canadian on course for a lunar fly-around early next week. Their Orion capsule bolted out of orbit around Earth right on cue and chased after the moon nearly 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) away.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am so, so excited to be able to tell you that for the first time since 1972 during Apollo 17, human beings have left Earth orbit,” NASA’s Lori Glaze announced at a news conference.

The engine firing was flawless, she noted.

Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen said he and his crewmates were glued to the capsule's windows as they left Earth in the rearview mirror, taking in the “phenomenal” views. Their faces were pressed so tightly against the windows that they had to wipe them clean.

“Humanity has once again shown what we are capable of, and it’s your hopes for the future that carry us now on this journey around the moon,” Hansen said.

NASA had the Artemis II crew stick close to home for a day to test their capsule’s life-support systems before clearing them for lunar departure.

Now committed to the moon, the Artemis II test flight is the opening act for NASA’s grand plans for a moon base and sustained lunar living.

Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Hansen will dash past the moon then hang a U-turn and zip straight home without stopping on land. In the process, they will go the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth, breaking the Apollo 13 distance record set in 1970. They also may become the fastest during their reentry at flight’s end on April 10.

Glover, Koch and Hansen already have made history as the first Black person, the first woman and the first non-U.S. citizen to launch to the moon. Apollo’s 24 lunar travelers were all white men.

“Trust us, you look amazing. You look beautiful," Glover said in a TV interview after beholding the globe from pole to pole. "And from up here you also look like one thing: homo sapiens as all of us no matter where you’re from or what you look like, we’re all one people.”

To set the mood for the day’s main event, Mission Control woke up the crew with John Legend’s “Green Light” featuring Andre 3000 and a medley of NASA teams cheering them.

“We are ready to go,” Glover said.

Mission Control gave the final go-ahead minutes before the critical engine firing, telling the astronauts that they were embarking on “humanity’s lunar homecoming arc” to bring them back to Earth. The capsule is relying on the gravity of Earth and the moon — termed a free-return lunar trajectory — to complete the round-trip figure-eight loop. The engine accelerated their capsule to more than 24,000 mph (38,000 kph) to shove them out of Earth's orbit.

“I’ve got to tell you, there is nothing normal about this," Wiseman said. "Sending four humans 250,000 miles away is a herculean effort, and we are now just realizing the gravity of that.”

Flight director Judd Frieling said he and his team were all business while on duty but will likely reflect on the momentousness of it all once they go home.

“I suspect everybody understands that this is a once-in-a-lifetime moment," he told reporters.

The next major milestone will be Monday’s lunar flyby.

Orion will zoom 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) beyond the moon before turning back, providing unprecedented and illuminated views of the lunar far side, at least for human eyes. The cosmos will even treat the Artemis II astronauts to a total solar eclipse as the moon temporarily blocks the sun from their perspective.

While awaiting their orbital departure earlier Thursday, the astronauts savored the views of Earth from tens of thousands of miles high. Koch told Mission Control that they can make out the entire coastlines of continents and even the South Pole, her old stomping ground.

NASA is counting on the test flight to kickstart the entire Artemis program and lead to a moon landing by two astronauts in 2028.

The so-called lunar loo may need some design tweaks, however.

Orion's toilet malfunctioned as soon as the Artemis crew reached orbit Wednesday evening. Mission Control guided astronaut Koch through some plumbing tricks and she finally got it going, but not before having to resort to using contingency urine storage bags.

The urine pouches are serving double duty. Mission Control ordered the crew to fill a bunch of the empty bags with water from the capsule’s dispenser on Thursday. A valve issue arose with the dispenser following liftoff, and NASA wanted plenty of drinking water on hand for the crew in case the problem recurred. The astronauts used straws and syringes to fill the pouches with more than 2 gallons (7 liters) worth before pivoting to the moon.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This image taken from video provided by NASA shows the Artemis II crew, from left, Canadien astronaut and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, mission specialist Christina Koch and pilot Victor Glover as they speak with NASA Mission Control via video conference from the moon's orbit Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This image released by NASA on Thursday, April 2, 2026, shows NASA’s Orion spacecraft with Earth in the background. (NASA via AP)

This image taken from video provided by NASA shows the Earth, left, from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it fired its engines heading toward the moon Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this photo provided by NASA, a view of the Earth from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it orbits above the planet during the Artemis II test flight, on Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)

In this photo provided by NASA, an Artemis program patch floating in the International Space Station's cupola, on March 30, 2026. (Jessica Meir/NASA via AP)

Spectators view NASA's Artemis II moon rocket launch from the A. Max Brewer Bridge, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Titusville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Spectators view NASA's Artemis II moon rocket launch from the A. Max Brewer Bridge, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Titusville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)