Bhavitha Mandava Open The Chanel Métiers d’Art, New York

Some moments arrive quietly, and still manage to change everything. On December 2, when Bhavitha Mandava stepped onto a New York subway platform to open the Chanel Métiers d’Art show, the world witnessed a breakthrough. For us, it was something deeper: a full-circle moment that returned to the exact kind of place where her journey began.

It was August 16, 2024, early in the morning.Bhavitha had just finished meeting a friend. I was coming from the office, running an errand to pick up Trinidadian food for a friend visiting from Los Angeles. There was nothing glamorous about the moment, no castings, no photoshoots, no expectations. Just an ordinary New York morning. We ended up on opposite platforms at the station. Trains passed, commuters moved, and then I noticed her. “She wasn’t trying to be seen, she simply had a presence that stopped everything around her.” Grounded. Elegant. Naturally cinematic. I trusted that instinct and approached her. She trusted the moment enough to listen. Neither of us knew it yet, but that morning would redirect the course of her life.

Born and raised in Hyderabad, India, Bhavitha was completing her master’s degree at NYU. Modeling wasn’t in her plans, not even a thought. But sometimes, the world recognizes something in you before you recognize it in yourself. Her first digitals confirmed what I sensed on the subway platform. Soon she was walking for Bottega Veneta, Dior, and then Matthieu Blazy’s debut Chanel show in Paris. Each step unfolded naturally. Nothing pushed. Nothing rushed.
Yet even with these milestones, nothing compared to what Chanel invited her to do next.

Chanel’s choice to stage its Métiers d’Art show in a New York subway station was bold. But choosing Bhavitha to open the show made the moment unforgettable. One year earlier, she was discovered in a subway. Now she was opening Chanel in a subway.
“When I saw her open the show, it instantly took me back to that moment on the platform on August 16, 2024 my world stopped, and only Bhavitha was moving.” A journey that began underground rose into one of fashion’s most powerful full-circle moments. Her look layered and effortless echoed what she was wearing the day we met. Not recreated. Not styled to match her story. Just naturally aligned with her real beginnings. The symbolism resonated instantly.The press called her the “revelation of the Chanel show.” For me, it was a reminder of why I believe in instinct, and in timing.

When we met, she wasn’t trying to be discovered. She wasn’t performing. She was simply being herself. That authenticity is now what captivates designers, casting directors, editors, and global audiences. Her rise, from a morning subway encounter to the opening face of Chanel, wasn’t luck. “It was alignment, readiness, and presence meeting opportunity.” Seeing her open that show was more than a professional milestone. It was proof that ordinary moments can hold extraordinary beginnings.

A New Chapter Begins: Today, Bhavitha stands as one of fashion’s most compelling new faces, and one of the first Indian models ever to open a Chanel show. Not because of hype. But because of truth: her quiet strength, her intelligence, her story and her ability to make simplicity unforgettable. Her journey is still unfolding, but the full-circle moment at Chanel marks the beginning of a powerful new chapter. And I’m honored to have witnessed it from the very first moment.