Manu Bhaker, Serena Williams and Usain Bolt: Famous faces who have walked in fashion shows

Indian Olympic shooter Manu Bhaker – the first Indian woman to secure an Olympic medal in shooting, when she scooped two bronze medals at the Paris Olympics – can now add modelling to her CV, after a spin on the runway at Lakme Fashion Week in New Delhi. Modelling for Marks & Spencer, Bhaker helped the brand reveal its autumn/winter 2024 collection wearing a fitted faux leather dress in black with a citrus cardigan draped over her shoulders.

Speaking after her runway debut, Bhaker told news agency ANI that she found the event “surreal”, adding: “I was very nervous, but it made me feel alive.”

Bhaker, 22, is far from the only sports star to take a turn on the runway. Earlier this year, tennis star sisters Serena and Venus Williams walked as part of Vogue World in Paris, a fashion extravaganza held in June before the opening of the Paris Olympics. Serena wore a custom-made look by Off-White, while Venus's look was made by Marine Serre out of repurposed tennis bags. Fellow tennis player Maria Sharapova also walked in the same event.

A couple of months later, in September, American gymnast Jordan Chiles took to the runway as part of New York Fashion Week. The team gold medal winner walked for the label Kim Shui.

World record sprinter Usain Bolt, too, has turned model in September 2022, when he appeared as part of the Futrograde show by Puma. Wearing a tuxedo, Bolt even broke out his signature pose at the end of the walkway.

In June 2019, Spanish football player Hector Bellerin walked for the Louis Vuitton spring/summer 2020 show, while Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton appeared on the runway next to Naomi Campbell for the Tommy Hilfiger autumn/winter 2019 show.

Elsewhere, actors and musicians have also been roped in to turn fashion model for a day.

At the ongoing Lakme Fashion Week, actors Shilpa Shetty, Shefali Shah and Shriya Saran (who did a Kathak dance step on the ramp), swished down the runway for Indian designers Megha Bansal, Masters of Minimalism and Payal Singhal respectively.

In the past, the fashion event has attracted Bollywood stars such as Kareena Kapoor Khan, Aditi Rao Hydari and Anil Kapoor.

As a promotional stunt for the film Zoolander 2, actors Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson walked in the autumn/winter 2015 show by Valentino, to the tune Don’t You Want Me? by The Human League.

Jared Leto and Macaulay Culkin both walked in Gucci's spring/summer 2022 show, while Prada has a strong track record of persuading actors to tread a different kind of board. Jeff Goldblum, Kyle MacLachlan and Thomas Brodie-Sangster all walked in the brand's autumn/winter 2022 show, while Adrien Brody and Jamie Bell took a turn on the Prada runway a decade earlier, for autumn/winter 2012. For its most recent show in Milan, it was the turn of actor Willem Dafoe.

Rappers Pusha T and No Malice both walked for Louis Vuitton's spring/summer 2024 show, Machine Gun Kelly walked for Dolce & Gabbana's autumn/winter 2022 and A$AP Rocky was part of the Hood Air autumn/winter fashion show back in 2013. Singer Shawn Mendes, too, has strutted his stuff for the Giorgio Armani spring/summer 2018 runway.

Meanwhile, Nicole Kidman and Romeo Beckham have both walked for the Spanish house of Balenciaga. Kidman modelled a look from its haute couture 2022 collection, while Beckham took part in the spring/summer 2025 ready-to-wear show.

In an unexpected turn, veteran actor Ian McKellen appeared on the runway as part of the SS Daley autumn/winter 2023 show, while Channing Tatum tried his hand on the runway for Sean John in 2003.

Then there is Chloe Sevigny, who has walked the runway no fewer than five times. She was part of the Simone Rocha autumn/winter 2019 show, and has walked for Miu Miu twice, in 1996 and 2019. She also took part in the spring/summer 2022 show by Mugler and most recently took a jaunt on the runway as part of the autumn/winter 2023 show by Proenza Schouler.