Rachael Ojuromi’s Chanel story has officially come full circle.
The 22-year-old Nigerian model and creative director has gone from recreating Chanel looks on Lagos streets with thrifted pieces to walking for the French fashion house at Paris Fashion Week. On October 6, 2026, Ojuromi stepped onto the runway at the Grand Palais for Chanel’s Spring/Summer 2027 presentation, marking a major milestone in her growing modelling career.
But her journey to that runway did not begin in Paris. It started in Lagos, with a creative idea shared with her close friend and stylist, Debby Fasingha.
The pair gained widespread attention after recreating looks from Chanel’s Métiers d’Art collection using second-hand pieces sourced in Lagos. Instead of simply copying the runway images, they transformed the looks through their own creative direction, using familiar Lagos locations as the backdrop.
One of the most memorable recreations was filmed around the Red Line rail overpass in Yaba, turning an everyday Lagos setting into the backdrop for a fashion story inspired by one of the world’s most recognisable luxury brands.
The project quickly caught fashion lovers’ attention online and eventually reached Chanel’s creative director, Matthieu Blazy. His reaction to their viral video helped bring even more eyes to Ojuromi’s work and highlighted the creativity coming out of Lagos.
For Ojuromi, however, fashion has always been about more than simply wearing clothes.
She is the founder of The Process Africa, a platform focused on emerging African talent, and her experience across film, writing and communication has influenced the way she approaches fashion. Her work often combines styling, location and visual storytelling, creating images that feel like complete creative projects rather than straightforward fashion content.
That approach was especially evident in the Chanel recreations she created with Fasingha. The duo took pieces that could be found through Lagos’ second-hand fashion scene and used them to reinterpret Chanel’s runway imagery from their own perspective.
What began as a creative experiment eventually became a turning point in Ojuromi’s career.
Her visibility grew, and she began securing representation with agencies in major fashion capitals, including New York, Paris and London. The momentum also allowed her to transition from creating runway-inspired content to pursuing modelling on international runways.
Now, she has walked the very runway she once recreated from Lagos.
Ojuromi made her Chanel runway debut at the Grand Palais during the house’s Spring/Summer 2027 presentation, titled La Conversation — Part Three — Different Faces of the Same Coin. She joined the cast of models presenting Blazy’s latest collection for Chanel in Paris.
The moment carries a special significance because of Ojuromi’s connection to Blazy’s work. She has previously spoken about how strongly she connects with his approach to fashion, particularly his ability to communicate ambitious ideas in a simple and accessible way.
That same instinct appears in her own creative work. Rather than trying to recreate luxury fashion exactly as it appears on a runway, Ojuromi and Fasingha found a way to translate it into their own environment, using Lagos as both their location and source of inspiration.
And perhaps that is what makes this particular Chanel moment so special.
Ojuromi did not simply arrive in Paris as another model hoping for her big break. She had already built a creative identity around fashion, storytelling and African culture before stepping onto the Chanel runway.
A project that began with thrifted clothes and a creative vision in Lagos has now led her to one of the most recognisable fashion houses in the world.
From the streets of Yaba to the Grand Palais in Paris, Rachael Ojuromi’s Chanel journey is a reminder that sometimes the work you create before anyone is watching can become the very thing that opens the door.
And for Ojuromi, this may only be the beginning.
