After a fated meeting with a talent manager in Brooklyn, now almost everyone — including Mindy Kaling — knows her nameNEED TO KNOW
Bhavitha Mandava went viral in December after opening the Chanel Métiers d’art show in New York City, which took place inside a subway station
Mandava was born and raised in India and moved to New York City to earn a Master’s degree at New York University. She was then scouted as a model on a subway platform in Brooklyn
She is the first Indian model to walk a Chanel fashion show, garnering attention from Karlie Kloss and Mindy Kaling
«I’m wearing a free T-shirt that I got from university. I have so many of these free T-shirts,» Bhavitha Mandava says over Zoom, offering a peek into her usual fashion choices.
From the confession, you might never know that Mandava became the breakout model of the season when, last year, her opening for Chanel’s Métiers d’art 2026 New York show landed her face all over the internet overnight. But it’s that same confession that proves that Mandava is relatable and humbly real — despite how many celebrities have slid into her DMs since her viral runway moment in December.
Mandava was raised in what she calls a «normal family» in Hyderabad, India. After studying architecture in her home country, she left for the first time in her life about two years ago to pursue her dreams in New York City. In that time, she was «fully concentrating» on her academics as a NYU Tandon School of Engineering student working towards a Master’s in design and media and balancing her homework with an on-campus job.
In the summer of 2024, she was rejected from an internship and, at that moment, «it just felt like life wasn’t working the way that I wanted,» she tells PEOPLE — until the universe set up something truly life-changing.
Mandava made plans with a friend to get Indian food at Manhattan’s Hyderabadi Zaiqa. «We were just like, okay, let’s just cheer ourselves up.» So, she headed over to their meeting point at the Atlantic Avenue subway station in Brooklyn, and that’s when she met Showin Bishop, the founder of 28 Models and the one who would lead Mandava, then 24, to her big break.
Bhavitha Mandava in the Bottega Veneta Spring/Summer 2025 show Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty
Bhavitha Mandava in the Bottega Veneta Spring/Summer 2025 show
Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty
Mandava had been scouted a «few times» back home, «but I don’t think I ever had a desperate moment where I was like, okay, let me give [modeling] a try,» she says, adding, «I never really was interested in it.» Pursuing a steadier, more traditional career path rooted in academics was the «safest route.»
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Bhavitha Mandava Bhavitha Mandava/Instagram
Bhavitha Mandava
Bhavitha Mandava/Instagram
But a «free Europe trip» definitely didn’t hurt and neither did the idea of taking a «risk.» So she flew to Milan for castings and met designer Matthieu Blazy, then Bottega Veneta’s creative director, who put her in the brand’s Spring/Summer show that September and a campaign the following February. To Mandava, who had little to no knowledge about luxury fashion, the gig was a gig. To her friends back in New York, it was huge.
«I realized that it was a big deal when I came back to my classes and then all my friends were like, ‘Did you just walk this show? This is really big,’ » she says. «They were all so hyped about it. And I was like, huh, this is, I guess, a big deal.»
Bhavitha Mandava graduating with her Master's from New York University Bhavitha Mandava/Instagram
Bhavitha Mandava graduating with her Master’s from New York University
Bhavitha Mandava/Instagram
And so, her routine became one of hustle — and it was grueling. «Whenever I would get jobs through modeling, I would go all the way abroad to Europe and then come back for my classes. Work in the morning, classes in the night, and modeling on the weekend.» She says the bookings gave her the opportunity to pay off her student loans.She graduated from New York University in May 2025 and has shifted her focus on modeling, partly because her working visa only allows her to do so. «It was a very risky and very scary move from my end,» Mandava says.
With how fast everything’s been going, Mandava has barely had time to catch her breath. What she has come to learn is that her appearance is more important now more than ever.
«Before [modeling] I never was sitting and thinking about how I looked. All of a sudden, I’m in this industry that is mostly about looks. That’s what gets you in the door. I started comparing, you know?» she shares, adding that being a late bloomer in fashion made her more conscious of her start. «It’s almost like not having agency over your life sometimes.»
Mandava, however, is hitting incredible milestones, including becoming the first Indian model to walk for Chanel, now headed by Blazy.
Before the Métiers d’art show, attended by A$AP Rocky, Margaret Qualley, Teyana Taylor and Emily Ratajkowski, she had a feeling that it would make an impact. After all, those familiar with Mandava’s kismet beginning would know that the show’s subway setting hit close to home. «But I just would have never imagined the way that this blew up. It’s been so surreal.»
On Jan. 27, Mandava cemented her status in Chanel’s Spring/Summer Haute Couture Show in Paris, where she walked down the runway as a modern-day Chanel bride. The tradition dates back to the 1980s with the late Karl Lagerfeld, per Brides, and often signals a designer’s new muse.
Bhavitha Mandava walking the Chanel Metiers d'art show on Dec. 2, 2025 in New York City Charles Guerin/Abaca/Sipa USA/Sipa via AP Images
Bhavitha Mandava walking the Chanel Metiers d’art show on Dec. 2, 2025 in New York City
Charles Guerin/Abaca/Sipa USA/Sipa via AP Images
Representing South Asian women everywhere has put some weight on Mandava’s shoulders, especially since she stands for a «very underrepresented community in the fashion industry.»
That hasn’t stopped her from making an impact.
Back home in India, Mandava has a feeling she’ll be «recognized even more.» Strangers have stopped her on the street, and she’s had celebrities such as Karlie Kloss and Mindy Kaling — one of the many South Indian actresses singing Mandava’s praises — personally DMing her.
Right now, Mandava is thinking of her modeling career as «this magical, whimsical and nurturing thing.» She has her eyes set on doing more work for Chanel and walking for Schiaparelli and Saint Laurent but admits that her future truly is uncertain. «Even if it is not a long-term thing, this could just be this really cool thing that I did in my mid-20s. I just want to be content.»