Nigerian model and creative Rachel Ojuromi has gone from turning the streets of Lagos into her personal catwalk to making her first appearance on one of fashion’s most prestigious runways.
The 22-year-old Lagos native made her Chanel runway debut on October 5, 2026, walking in the French fashion house’s Spring/Summer 2027 show at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Her appearance marked a remarkable turn in a modelling journey that gained momentum online after she began posting fashion videos filmed in ordinary settings across Lagos.
Working closely with her best friend, stylist and designer Debby Fasingha, Ojuromi built a distinctive visual identity around transforming everyday Nigerian locations into fashion stages. Her videos showed her walking through markets and city streets in elaborate looks while carrying out ordinary activities, including shopping for vegetables and picking up newspapers.
The approach helped her build an audience while allowing her and Fasingha to create fashion without depending on access to traditional modelling spaces.
One of their biggest breakthroughs came in July 2026, when Ojuromi recreated looks inspired by Chanel’s Métiers d’Art collection and filmed the interpretation on the streets of Lagos.
The video quickly went viral, attracting more than two million views. More importantly, it caught the attention of Matthieu Blazy, Chanel’s artistic director.
Blazy commented “Everything” on the post, creating a connection that eventually led Ojuromi to Chanel’s Paris runway.
Ojuromi later described the viral video as an important link between her Lagos experiments and the Chanel opportunity.
“That video was a vehicle that led us to where we are now,” she told Vogue.
The young creative had spent years developing her style and putting her ideas into action before Chanel came calling. She also faced rejection from people in the modelling industry, including a scout who told her she would never walk a runway.
Speaking about that experience, Ojuromi told Vogue that persistence had played a major role in her journey.
“It’s a series of compounding events. It’s never overnight. It’s all your life you work towards something.”
That determination became particularly significant when she finally received confirmation that Chanel wanted her for its Paris show.
Ojuromi was at home in Lagos wearing a robe when her team delivered the news. She initially reacted calmly before the reality of the opportunity caught up with her during the first lineup in Paris.
“I started crying because I was like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, wait… what’s going on?’” she recalled.
Her debut look featured a grey-and-yellow tweed shirt with a matching midi skirt, identified as Look 73. The yellow also carried a personal connection because it is Fasingha’s favourite colour.
“When I saw my look, I was like, ‘It’s a sign. This is a sign,’” Ojuromi told Vogue.
Chanel also allowed her to retain the identity that had made her recognisable online. Rather than dramatically changing her appearance for the runway, the house kept her beauty look relatively natural, with her braids pulled back and her skin glowing.
“They wanted me to look exactly like me and I really appreciate that,” she said.
Before her breakthrough, she had watched Chanel shows from Lagos and imagined what it would be like to participate in one. Her street-fashion videos with Fasingha became a way of creating that world for themselves before the real opportunity arrived.
Ojuromi admitted she felt nervous before stepping onto the Chanel catwalk and practised her walk because she wanted to avoid making a mistake. More experienced models, including Anok Yai and Bhavitha Mandava, encouraged her backstage and reminded her to relax and enjoy the moment.
“I was having fun. I was like, ‘Yeah, I deserve to be here, of course!’” she told Vogue.
“You can dream, you can believe in something, and it can just work out,” she told Vogue. “You can dream yourself into a life that is possible even if nobody else gets it.”
For the Nigerian model who once created her own runway on the streets of Lagos, Chanel has now provided the real one.
