When a collection is good — and few over the weekend were — it almost always has the same two qualities: newness and integrity. You need both, and most designers slide on one or the other. Sophistication is probably useful, but it matters far less than integrity. A designer of a legacy brand has to understand the values of the founder, the driving motivations. It’s not enough to mimic a style. You end up with nostalgia — the sedative for the masses and unthinking luxury bosses.

So far only three shows have met that standard: Versace, Prada, and Alaïa. Tonight in Paris, at the Grand Palais, Matthieu Blazy will present his first collection for Chanel — the show everyone’s waiting for — and he may well enlarge our perspective of those two rare qualities.

On Saturday, Pieter Mulier, the crea

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