(December 10, 2025) In New York, where the subway often feels like the city’s great equaliser, an ordinary commute became the starting point of an extraordinary fashion journey. A little over a year ago, 25-year-old Bhavitha Mandava was just another graduate student of New York University navigating turnstiles and train delays, unaware that a single ride would reroute her life. The Hyderabad-born architect had arrived with two suitcases, a large student loan, and what she later described as “a heart full of hope and fear.” Reflecting on her rise, she admitted, “everything around me is sparkling with a kind of magic I never thought would find me,” a sentiment that has echoed across social media as her story went viral.
Becoming the first Indian to open a Chanel show
That sense of wonder reached its peak when she opened the luxury fashion house Chanel’s Métiers d’Art 2025–26 show in New York, becoming the first Indian model ever to hold that position for the French house which was founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris.
The show’s venue is a set built to resemble a subway platform. It was in a station just like this that she was scouted in October 2024, a moment that convinced her that modelling might help her repay her debt and perhaps lead her somewhere unexpected. “Somehow, the extraordinary found me,” she wrote while reflecting on her journey. For Chanel’s creative director Matthieu Blazy, it became a narrative anchor. He recreated the simple beige quarter-zip and denim look she had worn the day she was discovered, turning her runway debut into a circle closing in real time.
A world that opened up
Her path with Blazy began well before the Chanel show. After being scouted on the subway, she first walked his final Bottega Veneta Spring/Summer 2025 show. It was his last presentation before stepping down as the brand’s creative director. He later brought her into other campaigns and continued working with her as he transitioned to Chanel. Bhavitha described how transformative the Chanel experience felt: “Walking into it was an unforgettable, purely magical experience,” she said, recalling the nerve-wracking anticipation of stepping into a house she had long admired. She also credited casting director Anita Bitton for creating space for her to be fully herself. “I never felt like I had to fit into a mould,” she said, grateful for the inclusivity that allowed her to represent India without being reduced to a stereotype.
The symbolism deepened when she saw her main Chanel look: a black dress embroidered with golden wheat. Learning about its significance within the house’s history from Coco Chanel’s childhood memories to renowned artist Salvador Dalí’s gift of a wheat painting to him, left her feeling, as she put it, “part of something far bigger than myself.”
Family, viral moments and the joy that travelled home
Through all of it, Bhavitha’s family remained central. She remembers calling her father after her first show, stunned by what she had experienced. Their pride culminated in a viral clip of her parents crying and cheering as they watched her open Chanel, a video that crossed millions of views and captured the emotional heartbeat of her rise. For many, their reaction symbolised the moment an Indian woman stepped into global luxury’s spotlight while still carrying the simplicity her parents had taught her to value.
A double life of a student and supermodel in the making
Beyond the glamour, her life remained tethered to the realities of studenthood. “After my debut,” she wrote, “I worked a job in the mornings, attended classes in the evenings, did homework at night, and flew to Europe every weekend to model.” Surgeries, heartbreaks, campus shifts, and the pressure of navigating opportunities across continents defined her weeks, but she still graduated from NYU with gratitude and resolve. Two years after leaving India for the first time, Bhavitha found herself holding not just a degree but an emerging place in global fashion.
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The architecture student who never planned to model
Bhavitha remains a licensed architect. Modelling was never part of her plan. She had moved to New York to study, to build a life, to work hard, yet the city handed her a story she never thought to script. “Two years ago, I left India for the first time… Somehow, in all its chaos, the city welcomed me,” she wrote. Her journey suggests that sometimes life’s most extraordinary arcs begin in the most unremarkable corners of daily existence. One moment you’re rushing for a train; the next, you’re opening a Chanel show.
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