Just months after turning Lagos streets into her personal runway, Nigerian model Rachel Ojuromi has taken one of the biggest steps of her young career, walking for Chanel at Paris Fashion Week.
The 22-year-old model, known online as @giverachelashot, has become an internet sensation following her rapid transition from social media fashion creator to professional model.
Her Chanel appearance on October 5 marked a striking milestone in a journey that began with self-produced fashion videos on the streets of Nigeria.
Ojuromi first attracted widespread attention earlier this year through a series of viral “fit checks”, in which she showcased her outfits around Lagos. Her distinctive style and confidence quickly attracted followers, many of whom began calling for a modelling agency to take notice of her.
Their hopes were soon realised.
After months of building an online following through fashion content, Ojuromi signed with a modelling agency last week.
Within days, she was in Paris.
‘First Time Out of the Continent’
On October 5, Ojuromi posted a video of herself posing for a fit check in front of the Eiffel Tower, revealing that the Paris trip was also a major personal milestone.
“First time out of the continent, kinda shy, world tour?” she wrote in the caption.
Later that same day, she walked the runway for Chanel as part of Matthieu Blazy’s Spring/Summer 2027 collection.
Ojuromi appeared in a sophisticated Chanel look featuring a tweed blazer paired with a lemon-yellow skirt and a cherry-red Chanel handbag, placing the young Nigerian model among the faces selected to represent one of fashion’s most influential luxury houses.
The moment was especially striking given that only months earlier she had been recreating major fashion looks on Nigerian streets.
In July, she recreated Chanel’s 2026 Métiers d’Art show using the streets of Nigeria as her runway — a creative exercise that now appears almost prophetic in light of her Paris debut.
From Creating Her Own Runway to Walking Chanel’s
Ojuromi’s rise has resonated strongly with social media users, many of whom have followed her journey from her early Lagos fashion videos to the Chanel catwalk.
Her latest achievement prompted an outpouring of support online.
“Nobody more deserving! She put in the work and look at her now,” one Instagram user wrote.
Another praised her as a “Self-made queen! So happy for her.”
A third commenter wrote: “Wow, Blazy is here for the girls!!!!!! Obsessed.”
The reaction reflects the appeal of Ojuromi’s story: rather than entering the fashion world through an established runway career, she used social media to create her own visual identity and effectively built a runway before a major fashion house gave her one.
Inside Blazy’s Chanel Collection
Ojuromi walked in Blazy’s Spring/Summer 2027 Chanel showcase, a collection inspired by the evolution of Gabrielle Chanel’s personal style and fashion legacy.
The collection explored different stages of Chanel’s relationship with clothing, movement and self-expression, resulting in what was described as one of Blazy’s most versatile collections to date.
The show opened and closed with model Dyanira Hurbuscher carrying Gabrielle Chanel’s original 2.55 handbag from the brand’s archives, creating a symbolic link between Chanel’s past and its present.
The fashion house described the collection as “A story of movement, self-expression and freedom,” adding that it explored “the many selves within each woman, the multiple lives of Gabrielle Chanel.”
“The silhouettes travel and transform through time, from the revelation of jersey underwear to the pencil-skirt suit, to the new ‘smocked tweed’, propelling Chanel into the future,” the house said.
The presentation also featured a soundtrack in which Chanel ambassador Nicole Kidman read passages from Virginia Woolf’s Orlando and To the Lighthouse.
For Indian fashion audiences, the show featured another significant moment, with three Indian models — Bhavitha Mandava, Chanel’s first Indian House Ambassador, Lakshmi Menon and Mona Bhuje — also taking to the runway.
A New Chapter for a Nigerian Model
For Ojuromi, however, the Chanel appearance represents more than a single runway booking.
Her journey highlights the growing influence of social media as a pathway into fashion, particularly for young creatives outside the traditional modelling capitals.
Her Lagos “fit checks” gave her an audience before she had the backing of a major agency. Her recreation of Chanel’s show demonstrated her ambition before Chanel itself invited her onto its runway.
Now, at just 22, Ojuromi has gone from constructing her own runway in Nigeria to walking one of the world's most prestigious fashion stages in Paris.
And judging by the reaction online, her Chanel debut may be only the beginning.