Awar Odhiang Doesn’t Follow the Fashion Script

Collectively, with everything happening in the world right now, there’s a real hunger for lightness, for something as simple as a genuine smile. So when Awar Odhiang closed Chanel under Matthieu Blazy’s debut and met the moment with an ease that felt both instinctive and disarming, it struck a chord. Watching it back, it lingers with the electricity of a moment you know is rare. A quiet shift in energy, she breaks formation, clapping as she takes a joyous lap, embracing Blazy as he takes his bow. On black lacquered floors beneath a starlit set, she moved with a sense of freedom that felt entirely her own, a rare, human moment that instantly went viral. In the months since, Awar Odhiang has moved through an extraordinary run, fronting campaigns for Chanel, Saint Laurent, and Chloé, landing covers for Vogue Italia, Pop Magazine, System Magazine, and Harper’s Bazaar Italia, and collaborating with image makers like Steven Meisel, Tyler Mitchell, Juergen Teller, Mario Sorrenti, and David Sims.

Caught in motion in between fittings and on her way to Chanel’s F/W 2026 show, Odhiang met the camera with the clarity of someone who understands the rapid pace of it all. Modeling, as she puts it, is “very opportunistic,” a stark reality where “it’s either you or the next girl.” Once a pre-med student, the South Sudanese talent born in Ethiopia’s Pugnido Refugee Camp and discovered in Canada, now stands as one of the industry’s most compelling presences, grounded in a global perspective shaped far beyond fashion. When she reflects on that closing Chanel moment, she returns to a feeling of release. “Matthieu… didn’t direct me in any way,” urging her to “enjoy the moment.” Shot through the lens of Marcel Gitard, Models.com spent the day with the Model of the Year in Paris to discuss her career, that legendary Chanel moment, and having the freedom to soar in this new cycle of fashion.