From Yaba Market Thrift to the Chanel Catwalk: Rachel Ojuromi's Lagos Runway

Rachel Ojuromi walked for Chanel's spring/summer 2027 show at the Grand Palais in Paris last month, six months after she began publishing a daily fashion video filmed in the streets and markets of Lagos. The 22-year-old Nigerian, known on Instagram as Give Rachel a Shot, built that body of work entirely from secondhand, thrifted clothes and scraps sourced mostly from open-air hubs such as Yaba market.

For working photographers and creative directors, the trajectory matters because of how the work was made. Ojuromi and her childhood friend, neighbour and stylist Debby Fasingha shot the videos in Gbagada, Yaba and other parts of Lagos without disrupting traffic, and they drew amused stares, smiles and cheers from pedestrians, traders and drivers as she strutted past. No permits, no studio, no budget for new clothes.

What do the images actually show?

In one video, Ojuromi turns a busy Lagos road into a runway, walking confidently through traffic with a tray of bananas balanced on her head. In another, she sits drinking tea with a teenage boy at a table outside a street-side shop, a kettle in front of them. The tea scene came from a Japanese advertising campaign she had imagined but could not stage — until a curious passerby, told the crew needed an extra, went off and brought back her son to appear in the shot.

That accident distilled the practice for Ojuromi. "There is something meaningful about knowing that a particular image or video exists because of a moment that happened at a specific time and place," she says. "Even if somebody tries to recreate it, it will never be the same."

How did Chanel find her?

The Lagos videos began as experiments in creative direction and street photography. Working with Fasingha, Ojuromi reinterpreted global fashion collections using secondhand clothes and wardrobe finds, then took the creations out onto the streets. From March this year, she and her team committed to publishing a new fashion video every day for six months.

"One of my mantras is to live within the reality of your situation," she says. "I am not going to spend money on something I cannot afford simply because I want to create a particular look." The pair interrogate the collections rather than imitate them: "We ask ourselves what the designer is trying to communicate through the collection. What is the central message? What is the cultural reference?"

That method produced looks inspired by Chanel's Métiers d'Art 2026 collection. After Chanel's casting director, Anita Bitton, gave them the go-ahead to publish their versions, the clip caught the attention of influential figures in fashion, including Chanel's creative director, Matthieu Blazy. The conversations that followed carried Ojuromi from Lagos to the Grand Palais.

Why did she abandon medicine for the camera?

Ojuromi grew up surrounded by clothes — her mother sold them in local markets — but she first aimed at medicine. Inspired by Gifted Hands, the autobiography of Ben Carson, the African-American doctor from Detroit, she dreamed of becoming a neurosurgeon who breaks down barriers. Complications with her college application gave her a year off, and she began exploring film-making. She eventually decided surgery was not for her.

"I wanted to contribute something meaningful and push boundaries," she says. "I discovered that I could pursue that ambition through creativity rather than medicine."

What comes after the Grand Palais?

Her ambitions extend well beyond modelling. She is a film-maker, creative director, and founder and editor of the Process Africa, a platform promoting young African creatives. She launched it in 2023 after an event organised by her young artist friend Temidayo Aríṣe, aiming at the barriers faced by young artists, designers, photographers and other creatives in Africa who struggle to access the opportunities needed to establish themselves.

"I remember looking around [at the event] and thinking that somebody needed to tell the stories of these people," she says. Her editorial stance rejects geographical qualifiers: "I don't want people to constantly feel the need to introduce their work as African fashion or African art, as though it belongs to a separate category. It is fashion. It is art. It is music. It is creativity."

With a Chanel walk behind her and a publishing platform in front of her, Ojuromi now works to make the path she found by accident easier for the next Lagos creative to find on purpose.