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)

BAGHDAD (AP) — Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki expressed defiance Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw Washington’s support for Iraq if he returns to power.

Al-Maliki, who was nominated last week by the country’s dominant political bloc to return to the premiership, said in a statement: “We reject the blatant American interference in Iraq’s internal affairs and consider it a violation of its sovereignty."

Trump in a social media post Tuesday wrote, “Last time Maliki was in power, the Country descended into poverty and total chaos,” adding, “Because of his insane policies and ideologies, if elected, the United States of America will no longer help Iraq and, if we are not there to help, Iraq has ZERO chance of Success, Prosperity, or Freedom.”

Washington has been pushing Iraq to distance itself from Iran and sees al-Maliki as too close to Tehran. His last term, which ended in 2014, also saw the rise of the Islamic State group, which seized large swaths of the country.

Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s list of candidates won the largest share of seats in November’s parliamentary elections. But he stepped aside earlier this month, clearing the field for al-Maliki after the two competed for the backing of the Coordination Framework, a collection of Shiite parties that is the largest parliamentary bloc.

The framework named al-Maliki as its nominee last week. A parliament session was set to take place Tuesday to elect a president, who in turn would appoint the prime minister, but the session was canceled due to a lack of quorum, with no alternate date set.

Al-Maliki said he would continue to stand for the premiership “out of respect for the national will and the Coordination Framework’s decision.”

Before Trump's statement, members of the Coordination Framework had received a written message from U.S. Charge d'Affaires Joshua Harris saying that “we recall the period of previous governments headed by Prime Minister Maliki negatively in Washington." Two members of the Coordination Framework confirmed to The Associated Press having received the message, a copy of which was circulated widely on social media.

“The selection of the prime minister-designate and other leadership positions is a sovereign Iraqi decision, and likewise, the United States will make its sovereign decisions regarding the next government in accordance with U.S. interests,” the message said.

A U.S. embassy spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s intervention into Iraqi politics came as he weighs carrying out new strikes on Iraq’s neighbor Iran. It also comes as the U.S. has started transferring Islamic State group militants from detention sites in Syria to ones in Iraq.

Al-Sudani came to power with the backing of the Coordination Framework in 2022 but during his first term managed to balance relations with Iran and the U.S. and restrained pro-Iran militias from intervening in support of Iran during last year’s 12-day Israel-Iran war.

Some of those militias have voiced their support for al-Maliki.

Abu Alaa al-Walae, commander of the Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada militia, called Trump’s statement “blatant interference in Iraqi affairs,"adding that “the criminal Trump, who physically assassinated the leaders of victory now wants to repeat the act by politically assassinating” al-Maliki.

During his first term, Trump ordered a drone strike that killed powerful Iranian military leader Gen. Qassim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy leader of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group composed of an array of militias, including Iran-backed groups, formed to fight the Islamic State group.

Tamer Badawi, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London specializing in Iraq, said that al-Sudani may well have anticipated the pushback against al-Maliki’s nomination and stepped aside as a political maneuver. That allows al-Maliki to “temporarily steal the spotlight," while the rival candidate's “path to office narrows under the weight of his domestic opponents and even sharper hostility from the Trump camp,” he said.

“Iraq cannot afford the economic consequences of Donald Trump delivering upon his threats,” he said. Those could include imposing sanctions and restricting Iraq’s access to its own supply of U.S. dollars - Iraq’s foreign currency reserves have been housed at the United States’ Federal Reserve.

But that “does not automatically mean the race is now decided in Sudani’s favor,” Badawi said. “A third candidate emerging as a compromise pick remains one of the plausible outcomes.”

Despite the political tensions, the U.S. and Iraq have continued to cooperate, most recently with an agreement to transfer some 7,000 unsuspected IS members from prisons in Syria to Iraq. A new batch of prisoners was transferred on Wednesday, bringing the total to 821.

FILE - Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki arrives to his political block campaign rally before the parliamentary elections in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)