Met Gala 2026: How India Interpreted Wearable Art at Fashion’s Biggest Spectacle

At the MET this year, the theme was Fashion is Art. For most guests, this dress code translated into sculptural silhouettes, body-conscious couture, and ambitious outfits that the first Monday of May rarely sees. For Indian celebrities, it translated init something more specific and intricate: 1,200 hours of handwork on a single sari, a live orchid worn as jewellery, a stainless-steel mask covering the entire face by Subodh Gupta, and a cape that carried the artistic sensibilities of Raja Ravi Varma.

Karan Johar in Manish Malhotra

Producer and filmmaker Karan Johar made his Met Gala debut this year in a custom Manish Malhotra ensemble inspired by the works of Raja Ravi Varma. A 19th-century painter who is widely credited with bringing European oil painting techniques to Indian subjects, Varma has recreated some of the most iconic depictions of scenes from the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Indian royal life. This sensibility found its way on the red carpet.

Johar's outfit featured a dramatic cape with intricate embroidery and hand-painted panels depicting scenes reminiscent of Varma's work. The outfit also featured architectural elements including pillars, lotuses and swans worked into the detailing.

Isha Ambani in Gaurav Gupta

Isha Ambani stepped onto the Met Gala carpet for the sixth time. And for the third consecutive year, she wore an Indian designer.

This year, her look—styled by Anaita Shroff Adajania—was a custom Gaurav Gupta couture sari featuring over six yards of Banarasi tissue silk handwoven in pure gold threads by master artisans at Swadesh, Reliance retail's platform for artisan-led work. Its border featured hand-painted Pichwai-inspired motifs by master Pichwai artist Trilok Soni, with fresco-like detailing and layered embroidery combining zardozi, aari work and relief techniques. Over 50 artisans worked on the sari, dedicating more than 1,200 hours to the piece.

The blouse, too, saw similar intricate detailing. Densely set with more than 200 old mine-cut diamonds from Nita Ambani's private collection, it also featured emeralds and polki, with the total exceeding 1,800 carats. Her look was completed with a sculptural interpretation of a traditional gajra created using paper, copper and brass by Brooklyn-based artist Sourabh Gupta, and a mango sculpture by contemporary artist Subodh Gupta placed inside a crochet bag.

Ananya Birla in Robert Wun

Making her debut at the Met Gala, Ananya Birla wore a custom creation by Robert Wun. The outfit featured a structured black jacket with a dramatic peplum and a voluminous pleated skirt. Paired with this was a stainless-steel sculptural face mask, designed by artist Subodh Gupta, that covered her face entirely. Styled by Rhea Kapoor, Birla accessorised with statement diamond jewellery from Mehta and Sons layered with personal pieces. The makeup was minimal to ensure the spotlight remains squarely on the silhouette and the mask.

Natasha Poonawalla in Marc Quinn

Natasha Poonawalla is a regular at the Met Gala since 2018, having worn pieces by various maisons including Margiela, Sabyasachi, and Manish Malhotra. This year, she arrived in something that sat entirely outside the category of 'traditional clothing'.

British contemporary artist Marc Quinn, born in 1964, first came to prominence as part of the Young British Artists movement. He works across sculpture, installation and painting in materials as varied as blood, bread, flowers, marble and stainless steel.

For the Met Gala, Poonawalla wore Quinn's Orchid Pectoral, a white phalaenopsis orchid worn as a sculptural body piece. Orchids, with its history spanning almost 200 million years, have long been associated with love, fertility and purity. Notably, the phalaenopsis is found across Asia, Australia and parts of Africa, making it a fitting choice for an evening built around the idea of fashion as a universal language.