Chanel recruits friends of friends, and Matthieu Blazy is no exception. Freshly arrived as Chanel’s artistic director on April 1 (I thought it was an April fool’s joke?), he is already starting to set up his little kingdom. And as in any good fashion monarchy, you don’t choose your allies at random.

First strategic hire: Andrew Heather. A veteran of the luxury cloth industry, he graduated from the Royal College of Art in London and worked for Margiela. A golden CV, but above all, a well-stamped membership card in the very closed circle of designers in transformation.

The recipe is simple: take a former McQueen, mix him with Givenchy, sprinkle him with a pinch of Margiela haute couture and throw him into the Chanel arena. The expected result? An entourage worthy of a society dinner, where the petits fours are rarer than the oversized egos.

But what would recruitment be without the backstage? Insiders are already whispering that, between two tweed adjustments and a few sketches in pen not by Cartier, the new faces are getting ready for a night of drinking. We’re talking about ‘Coco’ Cola and Crack here, obviously in homage to the other New Yorker’s Stock exchange and not to other more festive substances.