Model explains why she wore ‘jeans and a top’ to Met Gala, but the silly reason makes it worse

Amidst gorgeous gowns, tight tailoring, and enough nude illusions to break the internet, model Bhavitha Mandava walked the red carpet in *checks notes* jeans and a quarter zip?

The Met Gala is thee fashion event of the year, and A-listers flock to that annual shindig with renewed passion each year. Who will make the best-dressed lists? Who will be dubbed the fashion car crash of the year? There are so many questions, and so many armchair fashion experts to decide.

Thankfully, Bhavitha Mandava seemingly made the judging easy this year when she appeared in what appeared to be jeans and a blouse. To make matters worse, as the Indian ambassador for Chanel, she was dressed by arguably the most famous fashion house on the planet. The brand did her soooo dirty.

People crucified the outfit on Twitter, as one person wrote: “I’m sorry wdym they sent her to the Met Gala in a blouse and jeans…”

i still can’t believe chanel sent her to the met gala in a regular blouse and JEANS https://t.co/KFJ2ovCWbh

— kida (@kidasnow) May 5, 2026

“Why did they send Bhavitha to the Met in jeans?? This feels like a microaggression,” another said.

Someone else added: “This is such a low blow, what’s the justification for sending a woman to the Met Gala in jeans and a shirt that you wear, I dunno, to go to college on the day you’re feeling the least motivated to get dressed up? It almost seems like they wanted to humiliate her.”

Bhavitha Mandava has explained the Met Gala jeans

This morning, after seemingly clocking the rhetoric on social media, Bhavitha Mandava shared a snippet about her Met Gala jeans. As it turns out, they weren’t *technically* jeans.

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It 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.”

Don’t get me wrong, I get it. Bhavitha also shared a picture of the outfit on the runway, and it’s super cute. But it’s the Met Gala for crying out loud, and she’s standing alongside the likes of Emma Chamberlain, Beyoncé, and Rihanna in what is essentially a H&M staff uniform. Yes, it’s Chanel, but it translates as very ready to wear. You could easily wear this to Tesco.

@bdtrelilbrother

What’s better than one baddie in @ChanelOfficial for the #METGALA Two baddies in Chanel for the #metgala #bhavitha Awar@mandavabhavitha @Awar

♬ original sound – RAYMONTE

Chanel dressed other celebs last night, including JENNIE, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, A$AP ROCKY, Ayo Edibiri, Gracie Abrams, Lily-Rose Depp, and Awar Odhiang.

All of their outfits were something you’d see at the Met Gala, so why wasn’t Bhavitha’s?

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Featured image credit: Instagram/TikTok