One of the most highly anticipated runway shows for this past Fashion Month was the Chanel spring 2026 show. Chanel’s spring 2026 runway collection marked the debut of fashion designer Mathieu Blazy, who took over from the brand’s previous artistic director, Virginie Viard. Blazy was known for his work at Bottega Veneta and is considered one of the brightest young stars of his generation. Still, he had big shoes to fill, as many consider the artistic director role at Chanel one of the biggest and most coveted design jobs in the industry.
Images courtesy of vogue.com
Blazy’s first collection was met with applause, great reviews from critics, and social media approval. One of the most notable moments of the Chanel spring 2026 show was the finale runway look: a classic white tee shirt paired with a multicolored, maximalist feather skirt, modeled by Awar Odhiang. Closing the Chanel show quickly helped further cement Odhiang’s status as the model of the moment.
Odhiang’s Paris Fashion Week season included an impressive résumé of shows, such as Alaïa, Hermès, Balenciaga, Chloé, and Sacai. In 2024, models.com nominated her as Model of the Year. Recently, Odhiang walked in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
Odhiang’s story is a true rags-to-riches fairytale. The rising star was born in a refugee camp in Ethiopia to South Sudanese parents. Eventually, her parents immigrated to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada, before moving to Calgary, where she was discovered as a model. Since then, she has taken the fashion world by storm, and she is just one of many Black models currently ruling the runway.
In the wake of backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion, and many companies doing away with their DEI efforts that brought more diversity and more Black employees, fashion, in some ways, is seemingly ignoring much of the anti-DEI sentiment. Many companies, like Macy’s and Ulta, are still committed to their DEI efforts.
Faith Johson in Chanel spring 2026 show image courtesy of vogue.com
While Odhiang had a season that many models would die for, other Black models who are even newer to the industry also had their breakout season. Faith Johnson was ranked as one of models.com’s breakout stars of the season, and not only was she one of the many Black models who strutted their stuff for the Chanel runway with Odhiang, but she also walked the runway for Celine, McQueen, Dries Van Noten, and Saint Laurent.
Kathia Nseje in McQueen spring 2026 show and Marylore Heck in Sacai spring 2026 show images courtesy of vogue.com
Johnson was joined on the ‘Breakout Season Star’ list by other Black models, including Kathia Nseke and Marylore Heck. Nseke’s Fashion Month credits include McQueen, Stella McCartney, and Prada. Before her successful runway season, she also starred in an editorial for Grazia wearing a head-to-toe Dior look. Looking at Heck, the better question is whose runway was not she on, with Fashion Month credits including Dior, Rabanne, Loewe, Victoria Beckham, Balenciaga, Celine, Chloé, and Sacai.
While it is easy to hope that Black models are getting their just desserts, this season is a sign of a changing tide, historically, Black models have often been treated like a trend. The tides have ebbed and flowed for Black models getting their due—there will be periods of increased diversity, but then it is right back to fighting for equity and inclusion.
Image courtesy of cfda.org
Take the historic Battle of Versailles, for example. The groundbreaking moment in fashion history in the 1970s saw five European fashion houses (Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Ungaro, and Marc Bohan for Dior) face off against five American fashion houses (Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, and Stephen Burrows) to see who would come out on top in a competition format.
The American designers won. Many in the fashion industry at the time said where the European designers failed was in trying to outdo each other rather than work as a team. Not only did the American designers come out on top, but one of the notable things about the Battle of Versailles was that they used ten Black models, which was considered a record-breaking number at the time.
Bethann Hardison, a prominent fashion industry figure, has spent decades advocating for diversity in the fashion industry and was one of the models who walked in the Battle of Versailles. In 1984, Hardison founded the Bethann Management Agency, focused on diversifying the modeling industry. In 1988, she also co-founded the Black Girls Coalition with supermodel Iman to support Black models.
Despite their efforts, for decades, there were still shows where designers would not use a single Black model. In 2016, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) released diversity guidelines to push more designers to use Black models. In 2020, in the wake of the George Floyd protests, many fashion companies began diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, which included pushing for more Black models.
The shift toward using more Black models can also be attributed to one thing above all else: money. Black people are among the largest consumers of luxury goods, with some statistics listing Black consumers as the second-largest demographic of luxury fashion consumers, behind Asians. Rapper Cardi B once addressed this in a rant on social media, saying that every time a woman in hip-hop or a Black celebrity mentions a luxury brand, it can spike their sales, and she isn’t incorrect. Mega pop star Beyoncé once declared that Birkins were over and it was all about Telfar, briefly causing Hermès’ sales to slip and Telfar’s to spike.
As of 2019, Black consumers accounted for 20 percent of luxury spending in the U.S., according to Bain, which was a surprising statistic for some, given that Black people make up only 14 percent of the U.S. population. Luxury consumers are also 72 percent more likely to be Black.
Image courtesy of marieclairenigeria.com
Gone are the days when you could convince consumers to buy without representation. These brands have stepped up and realized that if they want Black dollars, Black models are a necessity. Iman once said she wouldn’t shop from brands that don’t use Black models, and her words have had a trickle-down effect. Looking at the runways of top luxury brands, from Ralph Lauren to Louis Vuitton, they are all inclusive of Black models in 2025. If these brands want Black consumers to shop, the era of Black models as a seasonal trend is over, they are a must.
—Kristopher Fraser
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