The Chanel Menswear Template and the A$AP Rocky 2025 Style Revolution

A$AP Rocky spent 2025 proving why he is fashion’s most watched dresser, but his appearance at the Chanel Métiers d’Art show in New York did something more ambitious: it sketched out what Chanel menswear could look like. In a year-end roundup of the 25 biggest outfits of 2025, British GQ singled out the look as a museum-worthy moment, noting that Rocky is effectively “slowly rolling out” a template for a men’s wardrobe at a house that has never officially made clothes for men.

A$AP Rocky’s Chanel moment

At the Chanel Métiers d’Art show in New York, A$AP Rocky arrived in a head-to-toe Chanel look pulled from the women’s wear runway and tailored precisely to his frame. The outfit, which included a sharp jacket, layered accessories, and signature Chanel bags, read less like cross-dressing and more like a fully realized menswear proposal, with proportions rebalanced to suit his build.

Marcus Mitropoulos, GQ style writer, said the look deserved its time in the spotlight, and probably a place at Le Louvre, underscoring how considered the styling was even within a year of standout celebrity fashion. In GQ’s framing, seeing Rocky on a best dressed list isn’t surprising — the surprise is how convincingly he makes a non-existent Chanel menswear line feel real.

Chanel’s history with men and why this is new

Despite its dominance in womenswear, Chanel has never produced a formal menswear line, instead offering androgynous pieces, larger sizes, and occasional male runway appearances. Over the years, figures like Timothée Chalamet have worn women’s runway looks, but those were treated as one-off styling choices rather than hints at a broader strategy.

Rocky’s role is different because he is now an official Chanel house ambassador and a central figure in the brand’s recent campaigns. That positioning, combined with repeated, highly visible Chanel looks on red carpets and at house events in 2025, has fueled speculation that the label may finally be edging toward dedicated menswear.

Matthieu Blazy and the menswear speculation

The conversation around Chanel menswear intensified after Matthieu Blazy was appointed creative director in 2025, following acclaimed work at Bottega Veneta and earlier stints at houses with strong menswear pedigrees. Commentators note that Blazy’s deep understanding of tailoring and men’s wardrobe codes makes him unusually well-suited to lead Chanel into a new category if the house chooses.

British GQ points out that Chanel’s current trajectory — appointing A$AP Rocky as ambassador, dressing him in runway looks, and expanding the narrative around male clients — makes the idea of Chanel menswear feel more plausible than ever heading into 2026. The synergy between Blazy’s sensibility and Rocky’s styling power is framed as the ideal pairing to make such a launch culturally resonant.

Why this fit matters beyond the hype

Within GQ’s 25 biggest fits of 2025, Rocky’s Chanel look is treated not just as a standout outfit but as a directional moment for luxury fashion. It suggests a future in which heritage houses lean on celebrity ambassadors not only to sell product but to test drive whole new categories in the public eye before they officially exist.

For menswear, the look challenges old boundaries around who gets to wear what, showing how women’s runway pieces can be re-cut into convincing men’s tailoring without losing the house’s codes. For Chanel, it keeps the conversation alive: there may not be a menswear line yet, but thanks to A$AP Rocky, we already have a glimpse of what it could be.