Chanel New Bag Guide: Biarritz to Sydney, and How to Choose

The Chanel new bag story this season is a mood rather than a single model. Matthieu Blazy's first Cruise collection, which debuted in Biarritz on 28 April and is set to be restaged in Sydney on 5 November, put its accessories in motion: oversized striped totes, bucket bags and straw baskets, according to The Impression and the Manly Observer.

Why Chanel is in Sydney this week

Chanel's Cruise 2026/27 show was due to take place in Sydney on 5 November, Marie Claire Australia reported the day before. The presentation was announced in June, and it is the house's first runway show in Australia. Marie Claire added that no other luxury house has staged a show of this magnitude in the country.

There are two dates worth separating. Manly's Shelly Beach was set to host a private event for Chanel's guests on 4 November, and the runway show itself was reported for 5 November at an undisclosed location elsewhere in Sydney, according to the Manly Observer. At the time of writing, the show is still to come.

Sydney joins a line of cities that have hosted Chanel's touring cruise shows, the same report notes, including Singapore, Dubai, Miami, Shenzhen and Seoul. The house's Australian ambassadors include Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Ahead of the show, Chanel released a teaser of Australian models Latahlia Hickling, Julia Nobis and Josephen Akuei on a shoreline, Marie Claire Australia reported.

"The choice of Sydney for the House's first runway show in Australia resonates with the spirit of the Cruise collection, which is resolutely focused on movement and an elsewhere."

A collection that began in Biarritz

Matthieu Blazy presented his first Cruise collection for Chanel in Biarritz, outside the Casino Municipal area, with Sofia Coppola and Nicole Kidman in attendance, The Impression reported. The setting was not arbitrary. Gabrielle Chanel established her couture house in Biarritz in 1915, as Marie Claire Australia points out.

The review described softened jackets, swinging skirts and relaxed proportions in the Chanel suit. Blazy framed the whole thing around the sea.

"What struck me about Biarritz was the power of the ocean, the elements, and nature… Everything here is about movement, there's a sense of speed and intensity,"

Is the Sydney show a new Chanel collection?

No, the Sydney show restages the collection that debuted in Biarritz on 28 April. Marie Claire Australia describes it as a restaging of the Cruise 2026/27 collection, and the Manly Observer confirms it is Blazy's debut cruise collection for the house. The clothes and accessories have been seen before. What changes is the setting and the audience.

Why does one collection have three names?

Cruise 2026/27, Cruise 2027 and Resort 2027 are three labels for the same collection, not three collections. Chanel's own statement calls it the Cruise collection. The Impression calls the campaign Cruise 2026/27 and its show review Cruise 2027, while Marie Claire Australia uses Resort 2027 in its headline. One name spans both years the season straddles, and the others use the later year alone. If you are searching for any of them, you are looking at the same work.

Who shot the Chanel Cruise campaign, and what does it show?

Alec Soth photographed Chanel's Cruise 2026/27 campaign in Biarritz, with Stuart Winecoff as film director, The Impression reported. The cast includes Josephen Akuei, Stephanie Cavalli, Ruyu Chen, Chiara Dorward, Bhavitha Mandava, Bruna Souza and Anne Vyalitsyna.

As The Impression describes it, the images put red and navy stripes, swimming caps, tall boots and gilded furniture on the beach. Bags appear in a supporting role. In one image, Mandava holds a blue handbag while emptying sand from a green slingback. In another, a woman holds a woven bag against dark tailoring. The bag is carried, held, half forgotten, which is the point: this is a bag in the middle of a day, not on a plinth.

"What stays with you is the sense that Chanel has given itself permission to enjoy being Chanel."

The Chanel new bag mood: totes, buckets and straw

Most of the reporting this week is about clothes, shoes and jewellery, and the bags get only passing mentions. That is worth saying plainly, because it shapes how you read them. The coverage does not name specific models, and nor will we guess.

What bags appeared in Matthieu Blazy's first Chanel Cruise collection?

The reporting describes oversized striped totes, bucket bags and straw baskets. The Impression names the totes and the buckets. The Manly Observer lists straw baskets alongside nautical stripes, seashell earrings and raffia skirts as part of the beach theme.

"Accessories leaned practical without losing their polish: oversized striped totes, bucket bags, jewelry that felt instinctive rather than inherited."

The rest of the accessories were less sensible, and charmingly so. Marie Claire Australia lists thigh-high rubber wading boots, earrings shaped like algae and sea creatures, and shoes made of little more than a heel cap, alongside jackets trimmed with marine motifs, logo swim caps and coral-like netting made into dresses.

"It was, perhaps, Matthieu Blazy's most playful collection to date, bordering on the chimerical"

Read together, the bags are a signal rather than a shopping list. A big tote, a bucket, a basket: these are shapes you throw things into and carry while walking. They suggest movement and ease, the sense of a woman going somewhere. If that mood appeals, it is a useful lens for the shape you choose, whatever season the bag belongs to. Our note on the designer bag mood of spring 2027 follows the same thread across other houses.

Choosing a Chanel shape for the way you live

You know the house already. The question is less which Chanel is newest than which one fits your Tuesdays. The four bags below are established shapes from the Saclyn closet. They are not from the Cruise collection, and they are here because each answers a different kind of day.

The shopper, for days that carry everything

If the striped totes on the runway spoke to you, the shopper is the nearest everyday answer. Chanel's 25K Hobo Chain Shopper in white lambskin wears the house's quilting and chain in a looser register than the flaps, with oversized quilted panels that keep the surface calm and two front cargo pockets that keep essentials within reach.

Chanel25K Hobo Chain ShopperRent this bag

It is a summer bag in a summer colour. Carry it to work with linen trousers, or make it the bag that holds everything for the flight. Lambskin wants a little care, so keep it away from dark denim and wet benches.

The Chanel bucket bag: depth over width

The bucket is the most direct echo of the runway. The Tweed 25 Drawstring Bucket Bag sets the house's founding fabric in soft cream, a material Gabrielle Chanel borrowed from men's country clothing in the 1920s. Its 5.5-inch depth does more of the work than its width, and the drawstring closes over whatever you put in.

ChanelTweed 25 Drawstring Bucket BagRent this bag

The short drop keeps it close, on the shoulder or in the crook of the arm. Wear it with a black turtleneck and wide trousers, or against a camel coat for a holiday lunch.

The flap, for formal days and long lunches

Nothing in the Cruise reporting calls for a flap, which is rather the case for one. The Classic Flap Medium is the bag most people picture when they hear the word Chanel, with a lineage that runs from the 2.55 of February 1955 to Karl Lagerfeld's 1980s redesign, which added the interlocking CC turn-lock.

ChanelClassic Flap MediumRent this bag

This one is in cream caviar, grained calfskin that holds its structure and resists scuffs better than lambskin. Cream suits weddings, christenings and a lunch that turns into an evening, and it sits well beside navy, black and camel.

The mini, for evenings that need very little

The mini is the opposite instinct to the tote: one phone, one card case, keys and a lipstick. The Mini Rectangular Flap in blue lambskin swaps diamond quilting for chevron, a V-shaped stitch that gives the leather a sense of movement.

ChanelMini Rectangular FlapRent this bag

The 22.4-inch chain lets it go crossbody or over the shoulder. Pair it with a column gown or a black cocktail dress, where the blue reads as a choice rather than an afterthought.

Living with a Chanel for a week or a season before you commit

The real trade-off is this. A shape that looks right in a campaign on a beach may feel different on your own shoulder, on a crowded morning, with your own things inside it. The depth of a bucket, the weight of a large shopper, the drop of a doubled chain: you learn these by carrying, not by looking.

With Saclyn, you can reserve a bag for a week, a month or a season, or keep rotating through membership. The bag arrives the day before, returns are prepaid both ways, and there is no minimum commitment. How Saclyn works sets out the details, and you can browse Chanel bags to rent when you know which shape you want to test.

If you are not sure where to start, Margaux, our personal AI stylist, reads your taste in a short chat and curates picks with a point of view. She may tell you that you are a bucket woman who keeps buying flaps.

Renting is not owning, and it does not pretend to be. A bag you return is not a bag you keep. But a week or a season with a Chanel shows you how it lives with you, which is the thing you most want to know before you commit to one. If you are weighing that purchase, our piece on luxury's slide and the Chanel price increase gives useful context.

Frequently asked questions

When is Chanel's Sydney runway show?

The main show is set for 5 November at an undisclosed location in Sydney, with a private guest event at Shelly Beach in Manly on 4 November.

Is the Sydney show a new Chanel collection?

No. It restages Matthieu Blazy's first Cruise collection, which debuted in Biarritz on 28 April.

Why are Cruise 2026/27, Cruise 2027 and Resort 2027 the same collection?

They are different labels for one collection. One name spans both years the season straddles, and the others use the later year alone.

Who photographed the Chanel Cruise 2026/27 campaign?

Alec Soth photographed it in Biarritz, with Stuart Winecoff as film director.

What bags appeared in Matthieu Blazy's first Chanel Cruise collection?

Reporting describes oversized striped totes, bucket bags and straw baskets.

Sources

• Marie Claire Australia: Chanel Dips A Toe Into Sydney With First Look At Resort 2027 Show, 4 November 2026
• Manly Observer: Chanel is heading to Manly, but their guests were nearly left high and dry, 21 October 2026
• The Impression: Chanel Cruise 2026/27 Campaign by Alec Soth, 3 November 2026
• The Impression: Chanel Cruise 2027 Review: Matthieu Blazy Debuts in Biarritz, 28 April 2026