Rachel Ojuromi: from viral Lagos videos to Chanel’s Paris runway

Rachel Ojuromi went viral for strutting through Lagos in home-made versions of Chanel runway looks. On Monday 5 October she walked in the real thing. The 22-year-old Nigerian made her runway debut at Chanel’s spring/summer 2027 show at the Grand Palais in Paris, after creative director Matthieu Blazy spotted her videos. Here is how Rachel Ojuromi got from the Yaba rail overpass to Paris Fashion Week, and why her story has travelled so far.

By Editorial Team

What we know

• The show (FACT). Ojuromi walked for Chanel at the Grand Palais in Paris on Monday 5 October 2026, as Vogue and Madame Figaro report. It was Chanel’s ready-to-wear collection for spring/summer 2027 and Blazy’s latest for the house. (BellaNaija gives the date as 6 October, but Vogue’s same-day interview and Le Figaro both say Monday 5 October.)
• Who she is (FACT). Vogue describes her as a 22-year-old born and raised in Lagos. Le Figaro says she studied film before turning to modelling. Her Instagram handle is giverachelashot.
• How it happened (REPORTED). According to BellaNaija, Blazy commented “Everything” under her viral recreation of Chanel’s Métiers d’Art collection on Instagram. Le Figaro says that is how he found her before inviting her to walk.
• What she wore (FACT). Vogue reports that she wore a grey and yellow tweed shirt and midi skirt. Yellow is the favourite colour of her best friend and stylist, Debby Fasingha.

Some outlets spell her first name “Rachael”. We use “Rachel”, the spelling used by Vogue, British Vogue and Madame Figaro.

How Rachel Ojuromi turned Lagos into a runway

Ojuromi and Fasingha built a following with what Vogue calls “fit-check” videos. In these short clips, Ojuromi does a confident model walk through everyday Lagos in bold outfits: buying vegetables at a market, picking up a newspaper or balancing a basket of bananas on her head. Vogue says the looks draw on the “maximalist” style of classic Nollywood as much as on fashion history.

The video that changed things recreated looks from Chanel’s Métiers d’Art 2026 collection. Blazy had shown that collection in December 2025 in a disused New York subway station. Ojuromi and Fasingha remade the looks with second-hand clothes sourced in Lagos, BellaNaija reports, and filmed them around the city, including on the Red Line rail overpass in Yaba. Using Lagos’s new train line as the backdrop for a set inspired by a subway show is a big part of why the clip spread.

“That video was a vehicle that led us to where we are now,” Ojuromi told Vogue. But she rejected the idea that it happened overnight: “It’s a series of compounding events. It’s never overnight.”

Inside her Chanel debut

Vogue’s interview gives a rare look at a first-timer’s week in Paris. Ojuromi said she found out at home, wearing a robe, and her first reaction was a calm “Oh, of course”. She only cried later, at the first lineup.

She said more experienced models, including Anok Yai and Bhavitha Mandava, helped calm her nerves before she walked. “I was having fun,” she said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, I deserve to be here, of course!'”

She also explained why Blazy’s work speaks to her. Before Chanel, he designed for Bottega Veneta, and she said she admired his grasp of “the impact of simplicity”. When he moved to Chanel, she thought: “Wow, my two worlds are colliding.”

Her message to people back home was simple. “You can dream yourself into a life that is possible even if nobody else gets it,” she told Vogue.

Why this story matters beyond fashion

Ojuromi’s rise is part of a bigger trend: creators using the internet to skip the old gatekeepers. Young Nigerians are turning ideas into global audiences, as we saw when the Nigerian-made Lagos Life game passed a million players.

It also says something about how luxury fashion is changing. Big houses now scout and cast through social media, and a viral clip can count for as much as a modelling agency’s book. BellaNaija reports that Ojuromi now has agency representation in New York, Paris and London. She also founded The Process Africa, a platform for emerging African talent.

The same Chanel show also made headlines for its guests: before it began, Nicole Kidman, Pedro Pascal, Dua Lipa and Kristen Wiig filmed a viral lip-sync video, which we covered in our global entertainment roundup. And if you want to know how fashion and celebrity meet at the highest level, read our guide to the Met Gala.

What happens next

• Paris Fashion Week continues this week. Watch for whether Ojuromi is cast in more shows or campaigns.
• Her social channels are likely to show what she and Fasingha make next.
• Chanel’s next Métiers d’Art show, usually held in December, will be closely watched by her fans.

More viral stories: Viral & Trending.

Photo credits: Featured image: The Grand Palais, Paris, where Chanel showed on 5 October. Photo: Ștefan Jurcă, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). Source. In-article image: A train on the Lagos Red Line, whose Yaba overpass featured in her viral video (illustrative). Photo: Just Ozed, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0). Source.

Sources

• Vogue: How Rachel Ojuromi, the coolest girl in Nigeria, came to walk the Chanel show (6 Oct 2026)
• British Vogue: How Rachel Ojuromi came to walk the Chanel show (6 Oct 2026)
• Madame Figaro: De vidéos dans les rues de Lagos au podium Chanel (6 Oct 2026, French)
• BellaNaija: Rachael Ojuromi walks Chanel SS27 after her viral Lagos recreation (6 Oct 2026)