Indian model Bhavitha Mandava has been named one of the 25 winners of the Instagram Rings Award for 2026. The 26-year-old had shot to fame last year when she became the first Indian model to open a Chanel runway. She is only one of two Indians to win the Rings award this year, the other being Kerala footballer Muhammed Riswan.
“She became the first Indian model to open Chanel Métiers d’Art. Now a Chanel House Ambassador and British Vogue cover star, she posts from inside fashion with an outsider’s eye, pairing backstage glimpses with her design sensibility.” (Also read: Kerala footballer Muhammed Riswan among 2 Indians to win Instagram Rings Award this year ) The Instagram Rings Awards is an annual creator recognition programme that was launched in October 2025. It was started to honour 25 global creators who make an impact through originality and creativity, regardless of the number of followers they have. Bhavitha, incidentally, has 7.4 lakh followers on Instagram. In a note announcing the names of the 25 content creators who have won the Rings Award this year, Instagram highlighted Bhavitha Mandava’s rise from a student in New York to the global runway.
“Bhavitha Mandava was discovered on a subway platform by Matthieu Blazy in jeans and a tee, with no modeling experience before debuting as a Bottega Veneta exclusive,” the note said.
Born to a Telugu family in Andhra Pradesh and raised in Hyderabad, Bhavitha studied architecture at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University before moving to New York to pursue a Master of Science in Integrated Design & Media/Human Computer Interaction. “I had been scouted in a subway station just a week before meeting him. In March this year, she became the first Indian model to become a House ambassador for Chanel. (Also read: Bhavitha Mandava creates history, becomes the first Indian model to be named Chanel house ambassador ) She has featured on the cover of magazines like British Vogue and Numero-France.
In September 2024, Matthieu Blazy (then creative director of Bottega Veneta) discovered Bhavitha Mandava. Bhavitha walked as an exclusive model in Blazy’s Milan Bottega Veneta Spring/Summer 2025 show and featured in the campaign. In December 2025, she opened the Chanel Métiers d’Art 2026 collection.
I had no prior experience, but the moment I met Matthieu, he believed in me completely,” she told Coveteur magazine in an interview last year.
What will the Rings winners get?
All 25 winners of the Instagram Rings award will get a physical ring featuring a four-leaf clover crafted from Connemara marble. Besides that, they will get digital perks like the ability to change the background colour of their Instagram pages.
