Fashion

Meet Serena Sefyan, the Lebanese-Armenian Model Who Opened Fendi FW27 in Milan

BYMille Team

February 27, 2026

At just 20 years old, Serena Sefyan has achieved what many models spend entire careers chasing: opening a major luxury runway. The Armenian-Lebanese model, born and raised in Beirut and still based there, led out Fendi’s Fall 2027 show in Milan as an exclusive, placing her at the very front of one of fashion month’s most closely watched debuts.

It was a high-stakes moment, not only because of the brand’s legacy but because Maria Grazia Chiuri’s return to the Italian house marked a homecoming nearly three decades in the making. Long before Dior, Chiuri began at Fendi in 1999 as an accessories designer, eventually rising to co-creative director with Pierpaolo Piccioli before the pair left for Valentino. Her return to Rome was both a debut and a personal full circle. Anticipation was high, reflected in a front row stacked with names like Uma Thurman, Jessica Alba, Dakota Fanning, and Monica Bellucci. Sefyan set the tone in an understated all-black look, wearing a sharply tailored blazer layered over a simple dress.

Her path to this point has been remarkably swift. Signed to Next Models and modeling for only two years, Sefyan has already walked for Dries Van Noten, shot a lookbook for Etro, and appeared in campaigns for Gucci. The Fendi casting process itself unfolded at breakneck speed. “I initially went to the casting, then got a callback. I was on my way to the airport for another shoot in Barcelona when I was told I was going to walk in front of the designer,” she told The Armenian Report. “I walked, and she, I guess, really liked me, and I got booked. I am now exclusive with Fendi… I can’t believe I had the honor to open.”

As an Armenian-Lebanese model working out of Beirut rather than one of the usual fashion capitals, her ascent feels especially significant. She joins a growing group of Arab models reshaping the industry, not as novelties but as central figures on the world’s biggest stages.

For a model barely two years into her career, it was a defining entrance. More importantly, it did not feel like a peak. It felt like a beginning.

Meet Serena Sefyan, the Lebanese-Armenian Model Who Opened Fendi FW27 in Milan

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Meet Serena Sefyan, the Lebanese-Armenian Model Who Opened Fendi FW27 in Milan

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