Awar Odhiang: from Pugnido to Model of the Year

On 4 November the British Fashion Council announced that Awar Odhiang will be honoured as Model of the Year at The Fashion Awards 2026. She receives it at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Monday, 30 November.

For most people outside fashion, her name arrived in October 2025, in one joyful walk at Chanel. But the story that got her there starts much further from Paris, in a refugee camp in western Ethiopia.

01 · Where it startedFrom Pugnido to Moose Jaw

Odhiang was born in the Pugnido refugee camp in Ethiopia. Her parents are Anyuak and had fled the civil war in South Sudan before she was born.

In 2002, when she was about two, a church sponsored the family's move to Canada. They settled in Moose Jaw, a small prairie town in Saskatchewan. She has spoken about how out of place she felt there growing up, describing herself as an outcast.

02 · The scoutingDiscovered in Calgary

At 16 she moved with her family to Calgary. A year later, while working at an Old Navy store in the city, she was spotted and signed to Mode Models, the Calgary agency that became her mother agency.

In January 2020 she left Canada for Italy to model, just weeks before the pandemic shut the world down.

03 · The groundworkFive years of groundwork

The industry knew her well before the internet did. Over the next five years she fronted Saint Laurent campaigns and walked for houses including Hermès, Bottega Veneta and Schiaparelli.

Models.com added her to its Top 50 and named her a Model of the Year nominee in 2024. In October that year she also made her Victoria's Secret Fashion Show debut. Her post afterwards opened simply: "Mama, I'm an Angel."

04 · The finaleClosing Chanel

In October 2025, Matthieu Blazy showed his first collection as Chanel's creative director, and Odhiang closed it. She came out in an oversized white shirt and a skirt of multicoloured silk feathers.

Closing models are usually expected to walk with a straight face. She smiled, clapped and spun, then ran to hug Blazy at the end. She later told Vogue it wasn't planned: Blazy had told her the moment was hers, and she simply did what she does.

Clips of the walk spread far beyond fashion. It also put her in rare company: she became only the third Black model to close a Chanel show, after Alek Wek in 2004 and Adut Akech in 2018.

05 · 2026Schiaparelli, Vogue Italia, the Met

The year that followed has been hers. In January she won the industry vote for Models.com's Model of the Year, and closed Daniel Roseberry's spring couture show for Schiaparelli in a feathered jacket.

In February she was on the cover of Vogue Italia. In May she attended her first Met Gala as Chanel's guest, wearing a beaded dress from the house's spring 2026 haute couture collection.

06 · The honourModel of the Year

The Fashion Awards' Model of the Year recognises a model whose impact has defined the past year. In its announcement, the British Fashion Council pointed to her presence and energy since the Chanel finale, and to the standout moments she has been part of since.

To be recognised as Model of the Year is an incredible honour.

Awar Odhiang

She follows Anok Yai, the 2025 winner, which means the award has gone to a model of South Sudanese heritage two years in a row.

On 30 November she'll walk into the Royal Albert Hall as one of the faces of fashion's year.