Chanel model reveals why she wore jeans and a top for Met Gala debut following major backlash
It was one of the biggest nights in fashion on Monday (4 May) and fans across the world watched on as the biggest names in Hollywood flocked to The Metropolitan Museum of Art to show off their extravagant get-ups for the annual occasion.
However, it's clear that not everyone dressed to the nines as one model, Bhavitha Mandava, could be seen walking the red carpet donning a pair of jeans and a quarter-zip blouse - something which has left many fashion fans utterly confused.
Many social media users couldn't wrap their heads around the 26-year-old's über casual ensemble during the evening, in which the theme was 'Costume Art', also given the fact that she is the Indian ambassador for Chanel, which is arguably the most famous fashion house on the entire planet!
"Actually why did Chanel send her to the Met Gala in a regular blouse and jeans??!" hit out one X user.
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A second chimed in: "I’m sorry wdym they sent her to the Met Gala in a blouse and jeans..."
"They set her up so bad like idgaf if it’s a reference she deserves better!!!!!!!" slammed a third as a fourth piped up: "Also she's a Chanel ambassador and this is her first Met Gala!??? Who's responsible I just wanna talk."
Another echoed: "Met Gala debut in jeans is crazy….. Chanel you are going to hell."
And a final critic added: "This is crazy. Who’s her management and stylist? They should have shut that down. Come on, putting her in a gown wouldn’t have set Chanel back and it sure as heck would have prevented any backlash.
"It’s fashion's biggest night for crying out loud! I thought this was AI or a meme!"
After effectively breaking the internet with her Met Gala outfit, Mandava has since taken to Instagram, where she reshared a post by a fashion creative consultant who goes by the handle @katieismonster, which outlined that her jeans weren't actually jeans at all.
The post read: "At the Met Gala 2026, Bhavitha Mandava wore a Chanel haute couture muslin jeans-and-top ensemble, and this is where it gets interesting. 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."
Mandava, a former NYU grad student, has also previously explained to Vogue that her Met Gala outfit was a reference to how she was first discovered in a subway station.
"I think some things aren’t meant to be understood, they’re meant to be felt," she said. "What I know is that the subway wasn’t a backdrop for my story; it was the story. And every time it comes back around, I’m reminded that ordinary moments hold everything. I wasn’t trying to be seen that morning. I was just existing. And somehow that was enough."
Tyla has reached out to the Met Gala for comment.
Met Gala 2026 theme explained
We’ve seen some truly bonkers Met Gala looks in the past, but the celebs who attend are actually given a dress code, as well as an invitation to tailor their outfits to the event’s theme.
The Met Gala doubles as a launch event for the Costume Institute's spring exhibition, and the theme is generally aligned with that, along with a slightly more open-to-interpretation dress code.
This year’s theme was ‘Costume Art’, to tie in with a Costume Institute exhibition, which pairs paintings and sculptures with historical and contemporary clothes.
It looks to deal with ‘the centrality of the dressed body in the museum’s vast collection’.
The dress code is a bit more vague: Fashion is Art.
To me, that is even more anxiety-inducing than ‘smart-casual’. British Vogue says the dress code ‘encourages attendees to consider the many ways that designers use the body as their blank canvas’.
Previous themes and dress codes have included:
2025
Theme: Superfine: Tailoring Black Style
Dress code: Tailored for You
2024
Theme: Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion
Dress code: The Garden of Time
2023
Theme: Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty
Dress code: In honour of Karl
Topics: Fashion, Met Gala, Celebrity, Social Media, US News
Rhiannon Ingle