Coupling the theme “Costume Art” with the dress code “Fashion is Art”, the 2026 Met Gala witnessed Indian celebrities introducing a touch of ethnic culture and tradition to the Metropolitan Museum of Art at Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York.
Adorning herself in a gold saree conceived by Gaurav Gupta and styled by Anaita Shroff Adajania, Isha Ambani’s saree fabric was woven using real gold by the artisans of Swadesh collective. This team comprised over 25 artisans dedicated upwards of 1200 hours during the creation of the fabric. This saree’s border shows hand painted pichwai motifs that are symbolic of nature.
The border also featured ancient rock-cut murals like those seen in the Ajanta caves. Utilizing zardosi, a Persian embroidery technique, this entails using fine metal wires to create a heavy, opulent look. Additionally, a crochet needle was used to create a sharp and fine chain stitch known as aari. The mural’s finish also creates a 3D sculpted effect on the fabric termed relief embroidery.
Artist Trilok Soni, along with six artisans, spent 150 hours hand-painting the border. Pichwai is a 400-year-old traditional art form from Nathdwara, Rajasthan, featuring intricate, hand-painted scenes on cloth dedicated to Lord Krishna. Her blouse was adorned with over 1,000 diamonds including old-mine solitaires, emeralds, polki, and rose and table-cut diamonds in kundan, all of which comes from her mother Nita Ambani’s private collection.
She also carried a hand-painted bronze mango by artist Subodh Gupta nestled in a custom crochet 3.10 by Guggi. The look was completed with a jasmine-inspired hair sculpture by Brooklyn-based artist Sourabh Gupta – a reinterpretation of the traditional gajra.
Karan Johar
Karan Johar made his Met Gala Debut in a bandhgala paired with tailored trousers and a dramatic embroidered cape seemingly inspired by the 19th Century artist Raja Ravi Varma. Titled “Framed in Eternity,” his look was designed by Manish Malhotra and styled by Eka Lakhani. The design drew inspiration from iconic works like Hamsa Damayanti, specifically the swan motif, Lady with a Lemon. It is the centrepiece of the design, Kadambari, Arjuna and Subhadra and There Comes Papa.
Every motif has been entirely hand painted, with the artisans having spent over 5,600 hours on it. For the textile to boast the same finishing touch as an actual painting, the embroidery has been treated with acrylic and oil finishes followed by a varnishing. The borders are built on rubberised bases layered with zardozi. To give them a sculptural, raised quality like paint thickly laid onto canvas, the borders have been built on rubberised bases layered with zardozi.
Raja Ravi Varma is called the “father of modern Indian art” for his oil painting which merged European academic realism with Indian mythological themes. His importance comes from humanising deities, creating iconic, emotive depictions of figures like Saraswati, Shakuntala, and Damayanti that defined Indian visual culture.
Manish Malhotra
For his second consecutive outing at the Met Gala, Manish Malhotra framed it as a heartfelt letter to Mumbai and the people behind his label. He paired an Indian bandhgala with a cape embroidered with the names and signatures of its makers, many of whom have worked with Malhotra over the decades. Across the surface of the cape are references to the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, the Gateway of India and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, alongside trains, taxis and scenes from everyday city life including the miniature of a master embroiderer mid-stitch, a tailor bent over a cutting table.
Demanding more than 960 hours to create the garment, the labour process involved 50 artisans across Mumbai and Delhi. Dori work, zardozi, chikankari and kasab are worked across the cape in white and ivory. The signatures of embroiderers, tailors, and karigars appear within the embroidery.
Gauravi Kumari and Swamai Padmanabh Singh (Pacho Jaipur)
Princess Gauravi Kumari and Sawai Padmanabh Singh(the Maharaja of Jaipur) outfits were designed by designer Prabal Gurung. Interestingly, both carry a mark of the city/state that they belong to. Gauravi’s look draws directly from her grandmother, Maharani Gayatri Devi, whose chiffon saris and pearls remain among the most recognisable elements of her wardrobe. The colour of the saree, pink, holds its own associations. Jaipur pink (the pink city being Jaipur) links the garment back to place as much as to family.
For Pacho (as the Maharaja is popularly known), the focus was to bring the Phulghar coat to the forefront.
Developed with Gurung and realised in Jaipur by Yash , Ashima Tholia and their team, the coat is constructed in deep velvet. It is quilted in cotton with aari and zardozi embroidery and finally finished with dabka and resham.
Sudha Reddy
Hyderabad-based business woman Sudha Reddy worked with designer Manish Malhotra and stylist Mariel Haenn On to create her ensemble look for the Met Gala built around the Tree of Life. It is a motif drawn from Kalamkari traditions in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with motifs recurring across the garment.
The Kalpavriksha (a mythical wish-fulfilling tree in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism which symbolizes abundance, prosperity, and divine blessings) runs through the central composition, while the Palapitta, which is closely related to the Bathukamma festival of Telangana, appears alongside Jammi Chettu and Tangedu. These are plants used in local ritual practices and tied to seasonal cycles. The symbols of the Sun and Moon are worked into the same surface, referencing cycles of time tied to harvest and festival calendars.
Kalamkari textiles have historically functioned as narrative panels, carrying mythology and devotion through cloth. Kalamkari is an ancient Indian art of hand-painting or block-printing on textiles, originating in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and mandates using natural dyes and a bamboo pen (kalam). It features intricate designs of mythological figures, flora, and fauna and includes two main styles: Srikalahasti (hand-painted) and Machilipatnam (block-printed)
The surface is built through zardozi and resham embroidery, carried through without reducing the density of the work.
Ananya Birla
Ananya Birla arrived at the Met Gala wearing Robert Wun couture styled by Rhea Kapoor. It featured a silk-wool-cotton blazer cut with a plunging neckline and a flared peplum hem with a powder blue wool-silk shirt underneath. The pleated ballroom skirt was made of gun-metal glass organza.
She wore a custom shiny mask fashioned out of spoons, dabbas and karchis by Indian artist Subodh Gupta. Gupta’s mask is made from stainless steel and acrylic, using traditional Indian utensils.
Diya Mehta Jatia
Dressed by designer Mayyur Girotra, Mehta’s look brought together two distinct Indian crafts – Shola from West Bengal and Kanjeevaram or Kanchipuram weaving from Tamil Nadu. Intricate carvings and sculptural relief-like details were woven into the outfit and then layered over a rich Kanjeevaram base, crafted using gold and silver threads.
Shola craft is an age-old art in Bengal making delicate, intricate, decorative objects from the soft, supple and porous core of the Shola stem. It is light weight and resistant to decay from water. Shola is an annual aquatic herb which grows in the wild, in marshy, waterlogged areas. It is also referred to as Indian cork. Kanjeevaram (or Kanchipuram) sarees are premium, traditional silk sarees from Tamil Nadu, India, renowned for their thick silk, vibrant colors, and intricate gold or silver zari work. They are characterized by contrasting borders, temple-inspired patterns, and durable, luxurious fabric
Karan Johar arrives at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala on May 4 in New York. (AP/PTI)
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