TAKE FIVE: For his first campaign for Chanel, creative director Matthieu Blazy headed to the place where the house’s founder spent some of her happiest days: the hillside villa on the French Riviera she christened La Pausa.
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, who built the house in 1928, opened its doors to a stream of fellow creatives including painter Salvador Dalí, filmmaker Luchino Visconti and writer Colette.
The spring 2026 campaign, photographed by Alec Soth, echoes the carefree mood of this era with portraits of models including Awar Odhiang, Bhavitha Mandava, Loli Bahia, Aditsa Berzeniia and Marta Freccia posing in the various rooms of the recently restored villa.
Chanel’s spring 2026 campaign.
Alec Soth/Courtesy of Chanel
Trinidad Castaño, Waleska Gorczevski, Noor Khan, Latahlia Hickling, Josephen Akuei, Xiuli Jiang and Cathy Simmons round out the ensemble cast.
Odhiang memorably closed Blazy’s first show with an impromptu dance down the catwalk, while Mandava went viral for opening the Chanel Métiers d’Art show staged in a New York City subway station in December.
The models are pictured leaping down stairs, lounging on Chanel’s bed, and posing in an olive tree in the courtyard of the property, located in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin on the border of France and Italy.
The latter image echoes a series of black-and-white photos of Chanel playfully climbing the tree with friends including gallerist Pierre Colle and society doyenne Audrey Field.
Chanel’s spring 2026 campaign.
Alec Soth/Courtesy of Chanel
The French house described the campaign as a continuation of the “conversation” between Blazy and Coco Chanel grounded in their shared masculine-feminine aesthetic, with a blend of androgynous tailoring and richly embellished day suits and evening wear.
“It revolves around love, freedom and movement,” Chanel said. “Everything has been imagined for playing, layering and inventing. For composing one’s own language.”
The collection will be available in Chanel stores from March. The villa, which now hosts artist residencies and special events, is the subject of a 350-page coffee table book, “La Pausa: The Ideal Mediterranean Villa of Gabrielle Chanel,” published by Flammarion last September.
Chanel’s spring 2026 campaign, and Coco Chanel with friends posing in an olive tree at La Pausa.
Alec Soth/Courtesy of Chanel; Photo by Roger Schall @ Schall Collection
