When Bhavitha Mandava got word that she’d been cast as the Chanel bride in Matthieu Blazy’s spring 2026 couture show, she approached the role the way she did her research papers at NYU: Mandava headed straight to a Paris library to pore over books on couture and watched every video of prior Chanel brides that she could find.
“Then I came up with a story in my head. I was like, okay, I’m going to view the audience around me as if they’re my friends and family, and I’m going to view the runway as if I’m walking down the aisle,” she tells Chioma Nnadi on this Wednesday’s episode of The Run-Through.
A few weeks before her bridal moment, Mandava had made history as the first Indian model to open a Chanel show: that one being Blazy’s Métiers d’Art 2025–2026 presentation, staged in a New York City subway station. In a full-circle moment, her look at the show was not unlike the outfit she’d worn when she was scouted.
“I was on my way to grab biryani with a friend after getting rejected from an interview,” she recalls. “I was waiting for him at Atlantic Avenue when my now ‘mother agent’ came up to me and asked, ‘Are you a model?’ I said, ‘No.’ And he said, ‘Do you want to be one?’”
Initially skeptical, Mandava was ultimately persuaded by the prospect of paying off her school debts. Just a few months later, she had fully launched her modeling career and amassed more than 500,000 followers on social media. “My dad is collecting every newspaper,” she says. “He’s clipping all the articles about me, like [in] The New York Times. I don’t even know how he got it. They don’t ship to India.”
Earlier in the episode, our fashion week coverage continues with Chloe and Arden Fanning Andrews, Vogue’s beauty editor at large, sharing their thoughts in the car following Jonathan Anderson’s latest collection for Dior. Their highlights included the epic lilypad shoes, Love Story’s Paul Anthony Kelly dancing to the runway music, and the “wiglets” (you must listen to find out what those are!). Reflecting on the greenhouse setting, Arden made one bold prediction: “Sweat is in.” You heard it here first, folks!