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3 min readNew DelhiFeb 13, 2026 02:57 PM IST
Bhavitha Mandava is all set to be on the cover of British Vogue. (Source: Instagram/@bhavithamandava)
After making history as the first Indian model to open Chanel’s Métiers D’Art show in New York last December, Bhavitha Mandava is all set to debut on the cover of British Vogue for March 2026. Following Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ January 2023 cover feature, Bhavitha is the second Indian to embrace this opportunity.
Set against a bright blue backdrop, Bhavitha looked radiant in a flamboyant, orange, yellow and brown-hued feathery jacket and skirt set from Chanel, paired with Chopard emerald earrings. Windswept voluminous hair and a wide smile captured the spirited essence of the rising star, as she looked directly at the camera with her hands on her hips.
From Bollywood stylist Rhea Kapoor’s “supermodel!” to Victoria’s Secret model Neelam Kaur Gill’s “this makes me so proud 🥹🤎 brown joy to the world!”, fashion industry stalwarts and peers poured in their appreciation in the comments of British Vogue’s Instagram post.
In the cover interview, Mandava recalled opening the Chanel show, which spiralled her into the middle of a larger cultural discourse. “Opening the Chanel show was deeply personal to me, and then suddenly it became symbolic in a way I didn’t expect,” she mentioned, “In the West, it touched on this question of who gets to be included in the idea of beauty and whether Indian women are even allowed to be seen as traditionally beautiful.”
Acknowledging the deep-rooted history of colourism in her country, she added, “In India, colourism is really so deep-rooted. People said I looked like ‘any girl on the street’ because fair skin has often been treated as the default. I don’t think it’s really about me, it’s culture renegotiating itself.”
Who is Bhavitha Mandava?
An architecture student at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in Hyderabad, Mandava moved to New York to pursue a Master of Science in Integrated Design & Media/Human-Computer Interaction at New York University. Before her graduation in 2025, she was scouted for Bottega Veneta’s Spring/Summer 2025 show helmed by artistic director Matthieu Blazy, while waiting for the subway at the Atlantic Avenue station two years ago. When Blazy moved to Chanel, Bhavitha followed and opened the Métiers d’Art show in December, and closed his first haute couture show at Paris Couture Week in January 2026.
Is this the first time a brown woman is on the cover of British Vogue? No. Before Mandava, prolific figures like Malala Yousufzai, Priyanaka Chopra Jonas, Jameela Jamil, Saffron Vadher (for December 2018 issue with Adut Akech, Stella Tennant and Primrose Archer) and Simone Ashley have been featured. Brown models have also made us proud over the years, but this solo lead feature feels historic because Bhavitha Mandava seems to be caught in the middle of a cultural shift that is redefining beauty standards in the fashion industry.
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