The 2026 Met Gala, a night anticipated for its glitz and glamour with its theme ‘Fashion is Art’, was marred by another controversy when Bhavitha Mandava, who made history last year as the first Indian model to open a Chanel show, turned up in what many are calling “a mall outfit”.
Mandava, dressed by the French luxury fashion house Chanel, wore a sheer, oversized chiffon button-up paired with high-waisted, ultra-fine silk trousers that looked like denim.
The outfit was supposed to be an elevated replica of what she wore to open Chanel’s Métiers d’Arts show in December, which itself paid homage to when she was discovered by a modelling agent, two years ago, while waiting for a train in Brooklyn, New York.
Speaking to British Vogue, Mandava opened up about her reaction to the sketch of her 2026 Met Gala ‘fit.
“I had to pause… 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,” she said before adding that she wanted to show up to the fashion fundraiser as herself, “honestly and fully”.
However, the internet is very divided on whether Chanel’s dressing of its first Indian ambassador was couture or a racist microaggression.
The internet’s reaction to Bhavitha Mandava’s 2026 Met Gala outfit
Fashion Instagram account Diet Prada (@Diet_prada) made a post questioning Chanel’s dressing of their first Indian ambassador, comparing her to Awar Odhiang, another Chanel model who Mandava posed next to on the carpet, as well as others dressed by Chanel, including Jennie, Margot Robbie and Lily Rose-Depp, who were all in “luxurious evening gowns”.
“The overly casual look which the design house has prioritised for their first-ever Indian ambassador seems to peddle a narrative which excludes her from the glamour of her counterparts,” said the account.
On X, user @inejsghafz wrote, “Why did they send Bhavitha to the Met in jeans?? This feels like a microaggression”.
A second X user, @lostinsfictionn, notes that Chanel “wouldn’t have done this if it were a white model.”
Many shared the same sentiment on Instagram, Reddit, and TikTok, questioning whether her outfit even aligned with the night’s theme.
One Redditor, u/SaltBeefin, said the outfit “doesn’t fit the theme” and was a “copout” and a “humiliation ritual”.
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On Instagram, Neima (@metrotorontou) said, “It was a microaggression. They didn’t want an Indian model to outshine others.”
On TikTok, fashion fiends, such as @Croissant, also pointed out that Mandava should have been dressed in Indian clothing or Indian-inspired clothing, joining her fellow Indian attendees, like Karan Johar and Isha Ambani.
“We [D]esis have so much artistry, colorful, creative and beautiful cultural/traditional clothing, and apparently jeans and a blouse made the final product? Especially considering how she’s such a rising model in the industry right now,” the user commented under a video by Naya (@nayawritessss).
However, others like Michael Antonio (@michaelantonio_now) said it was “an iconic moment. It’s memorable. And the fact there is so much conversation around it is exactly the point.”
Others like u/StunningApple-1510 and u/runningraleigh on Reddit agreed, stating it was a “rejection of the over-the-top fashion at the Met Gala” and was a “stand out”.
On Instagram, Paige (@pintsizedpaige) noted the collaborative process that usually shapes the outfits for the Met Gala, saying, “Okay, did anyone ask her how she felt about it though??”
Bhavitha Mandava responds to the reactions surrounding her 2026 Met Gala outfit
Mandava subtly responded to the backlash, jumping on her Instagram story the morning after the Met Gala and reposting a story by user Katie (@katieismonster), a Fashion Creative Consultant, that detailed the outfit.
“What reads as classic denim paired with a lightweight knit is, in reality, ultra-fine silk engineered to mimic everyday fabrics. A trompe l’oeil effect that has become something of a Chanel signature of late, echoed throughout the house’s Spring/Summer haute couture collection. Not just a pair of jeans, but lightweight couture denim at the Met,” the story said.
However, many did not take to this well.
One commented responded to the story, writing, “Gurl u need something better ain’t no no pulled in jeans .. Racism for sure. I understand it’s their collection but.”
“Baby those are jeans, doesn’t matter if they’re couture or not,” another penned.
What does it mean for the South Asian community?
As a South Asian, I find the divide over Mandava’s outfit somewhat conflicting. I personally found the self-referential outfit, which pays homage to the Indian girl who was scouted at the train station, to be an example of how art and beauty are not just found in casting rooms or ballrooms, but in everyday life.
Mandava spoke to this element of representation in her interview with British Vogue saying she was thinking about the “brown girls who might see it and feel, even in a small way, that something has shifted in what they believe is possible for them.”
However, the discourse has also made me question the expectation placed on South Asians to wear culturally inspired clothing in order to represent and take pride in our culture. The lack of diversity in industries like modelling and spaces like the Met Gala places, what I see, as an unfair burden on the few South Asians in these spaces to represent an entire region, limiting the diversity of the countries and communities that make up South Asia itself.
For me, representation is not just about seeing someone who looks like me, but also is about the values and style and culture we share, and this is only possible when there is space for us.
Rather than just questioning Mandava’s outfit, I see a bigger question: why it took 75 years for Chanel to have an Indian ambassador, and why it is only moments of virality like the Met Gala that fashion houses and these spaces are questioned about systemic racism?
With Chanel yet to comment on the backlash they are facing, and Mandava’s indirect response to the criticism failing to calm the internet divide, all we can do is push for more space and genuine representation and hope that Mandava feels empowered in what she wore.
Image source: Getty Images.
The post Racist Or Couture? Unpacking The Heated Controversy Over Bhavitha Mandava’s Chanel Met Gala Look appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
