Indian model Bhavitha Mandava's debut at the Met Gala in what seemed to be a pair of blue jeans has ignited one of the most intense fashion controversies of this year's event. Social media users accused Chanel of underdressing its first Indian house ambassador, while others defended the look as a deliberate piece of conceptual couture closely tied to the gala's theme.
The 26-year-old model arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday wearing a beige muslin half-zip sweater over a white muslin top and muslin printed pants with a blue denim effect, all designed by Chanel creative director Matthieu Blazy. Criticism erupted almost immediately, with multiple social media users questioning why Mandava had been styled in what looked like casual streetwear for her first appearance at fashion's biggest night.
One person wrote on X: "Chanel, you did wrong. Putting her in a simple everyday outfit at the Met Gala and calling it art. The absolute disrespect." Another added: "Making Bhavitha Mandava the face of Chanel and then not putting any effort for her big moment. Not even a dress. They wouldn't have done this if it was a white model." A Reddit user described the outfit as "underwhelming" and "anticlimactic" for an event synonymous with spectacle.
Mandava, a Hyderabad-born former architecture student, moved to New York for graduate studies before being discovered while waiting for a subway train in Brooklyn in 2024. A modelling agency scout approached her during her commute and later sent her photographs to renowned casting director Anita Bitton, who shared them with Blazy, then creative director of Bottega Veneta. Blazy cast Mandava in the brand's spring/summer 2025 show, marking her runway debut just weeks after she was scouted.
In December 2025, Mandava became the first Indian model to open a Chanel runway show during the house's Métiers d'Art presentation inside a decommissioned New York subway station. That show deliberately referenced the circumstances of her discovery, with Mandava opening in a quarter-zip sweater and washed denim inspired by the outfit she wore when first approached on the subway. The same silhouette became the basis for her Met Gala look.
In a statement to The Independent, Chanel said the outfit required 250 hours to create and described it as a "Haute Couture reinterpretation" of the look Mandava wore to open the Métiers d'Art show in New York, "marking her return to the city where she was first discovered." Mandava and Blazy revisited some of her favourite Chanel moments while developing the outfit, with Blazy transforming the deliberately ordinary silhouette into couture for fashion's biggest night.
Mandava told British Vogue: "I had to pause when I saw the sketch, because that subway show was already one of the most significant nights of my career. Turning it into something reimagined for the Met felt like carrying that memory forward, but in a more elevated way that still respects the original spirit and the theme of the evening." What appeared to be denim jeans were actually silk muslin trousers printed with a "blue denim effect" using trompe l'oeil techniques by Chanel's ateliers.
In an interview with Elle magazine on the Met Gala carpet, Mandava said the outfit was intended as "the couture version" of her real-life clothes. She added: "I feel like every design he makes has a very deep story to it." Mandava has not directly addressed the backlash but reposted an Instagram Story praising Chanel's use of trompe l'oeil to create "lightweight couture denim." The Independent has reached out to her agency for comment.
As criticism spread online, many argued that the backlash ignored the Met Gala theme, which this year focused on fashion as illusion, construction, and artistic technique. The exhibition "Costume Art" and its dress code "Fashion Is Art" celebrated the relationship between clothing, performance, and visual art. For defenders of Mandava's look, the fact that her "jeans" were not jeans at all was precisely the point.
One X user wrote: "Making silk look like denim jeans IS a display of how Fashion is Art. I like how it actually focuses on how garment construction and textile work IS a form of art." Another user described Chanel's use of trompe l'oeil as "a really great take on 'fashion is art'." Some interpreted the styling as a deliberate rejection of the exaggerated glamour now associated with the Met Gala. A Reddit user noted: "The contrast to everyone else's outfits itself is a statement."
For some critics, the issue was not whether the outfit fit the theme, but who Chanel had chosen to present that way. Fashion watchdog Diet Prada posted on Instagram: "Was Chanel's Met Gala look for Bhavitha Mandava racist?" The account questioned why Chanel had revisited Mandava's subway-inspired styling for "such an important event as the Met Gala," especially when other Chanel attendees like K-pop star Jennie and Hollywood actors Margot Robbie and Lily-Rose Depp appeared in more traditionally glamorous eveningwear.
Indian fashion commentator Sufi Motiwala said on Instagram that Chanel had "tokenised" Mandava, stating: "She is in the look that she opened the show in for Chanel that went viral, and you're telling me they sent her in jeans for 'Fashion is Art?'" Reality television personality Anisha Ramakrishna Tarpara described the outfit as something one wears "on the subway" and "to go to CVS," adding: "Chanel really said 'we see India and we want to meet you underground.'" Former Vogue India editor Megha Kapoor disagreed that the look was racist, writing: "Let her speak for herself – she's an absolute credit to herself, South Asians & still looked better than most."
