Met Gala 2026: Desi stars and couture spotting at fashion’s biggest night

The Met Gala this year arrived dressed as something more thoughtful, Costume as Art, but the mood around it had a sharper edge. Outside the museum, there were protests aimed squarely at Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez stepping in as honorary co-chairs alongside Anna Wintour, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Beyoncé. It made for that familiar New York contrast, a line of flashbulbs on one side, a line of placards on the other, both equally determined to be seen.

Inside, it was business as usual, just on a slightly higher setting. The Met Gala has always been expensive, but 2026 pushed it into a different bracket altogether. A single ticket hit $100,000, up from $75,000 last year. Tables started at $350,000, which is where brands step in, buy their way in, and then decide who gets to sit where.

And the payoff was immediate. The gala raised a reported $42 million this year, up from roughly $31 million in 2025, which tells you everything about how the room is shifting and who is willing to bankroll it. Some people arrived looking like actual exhibits, the kind you would walk around slowly in a museum and pretend to understand. Others played it safer, which at the Met can read as either tasteful or forgettable depending on how you feel that night.

India, though, felt less like a guest this year. You had a mix of names, from Karan Johar, who made his debut, to Manish Malhotra, Ananya Birla (another debutant), Natasha Poonawalla, and Isha Ambani, among others; the kind who understand both spectacle and strategy.

Even the carpet, made in Kerala by Neytt and then reworked into that almost pastoral green, felt like a reminder that India’s presence wasn’t just on the guest list, it was underfoot. Here’s a breakdown of all the desis we had our eyes on:

Natasha Poonawalla

For Met Gala 2026, Natasha Poonawalla skipped the gown and went straight to sculpture. The look centred on an orchid pectoral by British visual artist Marc Quinn, created specifically for her. It is not meant to exist on a plinth. It only “works” when worn, which is a polite way of saying the artwork requires a human to function.

The orchid is a Phalaenopsis, a flower that turns up across continents and cultures, usually tied to ideas of renewal and longevity. Cast in white and worn across the chest like armour, the piece sits somewhere between jewellery and statement, depending on how seriously you take it.

The rest of the look came together with Domenico Dolce (of Dolce & Gabbana) and the Alta Moda team.

Karan Johar

Karan Johar, the first Indian filmmaker to attend the Met Gala turned to 19th Century painter Raja Ravi Varma for inspiration, and took his famed works of art to the red carpet, quite literally. His Manish Malhotra couture look, a vintage jacket with power shoulders, was worn with a hand-painted cape that featured Varma’s painting Lady With A Lemon as the centrepiece, surrounded by Arjuna and Subhadra, Hamsa Damayanti and There Comes Papa among others.

The six feet long cape, truly a stunning work of art, was painted entirely freehand, and featured embroidery treated with acrylic oil and varnish finishes — this took 86 days to make with over 80 karigars working on it.  That was not all; sculpted pillars, lotuses and swans were part of the 3D elements on the velvety drapes that Johar got to swish and strut around in. Styled by Eka Lakhani, Johar finished his look with jewels from his own brand, Tyaani. 

Sudha Reddy

Billionaire philanthropist Sudha Reddy returned to the Met Gala in a custom look by Manish Malhotra, styled with Mariel Haenn, and titled The Tree of Life. The brief was clear: Heritage, but make it travel well.

The ensemble drew from kalamkari, reworked into something more sculptural than literal. Think velvet, antique gold zari, heavy zardozi, the kind of surface detail that reads expensive even from a distance. It leaned into a 3,000-year-old textile tradition without treating it like a museum piece, which is usually where these things go wrong.

The motifs did most of the storytelling. Palapitta, jammi chettu, kalpavriksha, tangedu, along with surya and chandra, all made an appearance. Sudha framed it as Hyderabad translated into clothing. The result sat somewhere between costume and archive, depending on how closely you were looking.

Manish Malhotra

“Taking my atelier to the Met Gala,” said couturier Manish Malhotra, in a video describing his look for the gala. Having worked on several films spanning decades, Manish is no stranger to costumes. And it felt befitting that both Mumbai, and Cinema, were honoured at his second appearance at the Met.

An architectural cape worn over a bandgala featured dori, chikankari, zardosi and kasab hand embroidery in white, detailing several Mumbai landmarks including the Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus and the Gateway of India, as well as the names of all the karigars he has worked with. Manish says it was important to honour their skill, legacy and artistry, and chronicle the city of Mumbai which has been instrumental to his journey in cinema and design. 

While Karan Johar was also dressed in one of his designs, Manish also dressed actress Camila Mendes (known for her role in the Netflix series Riverdale), in a mahogany custom couture gown inspired by the women in Amrita Sher-Gil’s paintings. 

Isha Ambani

The Ambani heiress attended the Met Gala 2026 in a custom couture look by Gaurav Gupta, with textiles and surface work developed in collaboration with Swadesh, and styling by Anaita Shroff Adajania.

The sari was conceived as a living canvas, bringing together hand-painted and embroidered elements with a sculptural drape. It was woven using threads of pure gold by Swadesh artisans and featured pichwai-inspired motifs in soft gold and earthy tones.

The blouse came from Nita Ambani’s personal collection and was finished with diamonds and metallic zardozi embroidery. At the back, a sarpech, once part of the Nizam’s collection, made an appearance, which is not your average heirloom situation.

Her hair was styled into a jasmine-inspired sculpture, a reworking of the traditional mogra gajra, handcrafted over 150 hours by Brooklyn-based artist Sourabh Gupta using paper, copper, and brass. It sat somewhere between ornament and object, which, given the theme, felt about right.

She completed the look with a mango sculpture by artist Subodh Gupta, carrying it by hand as a literal nod to fashion as art. Subtle was not the assignment, and she understood that.

Ananya Birla

A striking stainless steel mask by Indian sculptor Subodh Gupta took the spotlight in entrepreneur and singer Ananya Birla’s look for the Met. Donning Robert Wun couture featuring an puffed, elaborately pleated skirt paired with a sharp, structured peeplum blazer and shirt in black and light blue, Ananya’s look was described by stylist Rhea Kapoor on Instagram as the moving of the ordinary to the extraordinary.

The mask here, envisioned as both a disguise that obscures the wearer’s identity and a visage of strength, and the outfit, reinterpreting everyday workwear into the realm of extraordinary. Definitely one of the more striking looks of the night, and one that actually chose to reimagine the costume. 

Gauravi Kumari and Padmanabh Singh

Jaipur royalty made their debut in looks by Prabal Gurung, both anchored in personal history, though approached very differently. Gauravi’s gown began with a piece that already had a life before the carpet. A chiffon sari once worn by Maharani Gayatri Devi was reworked into the silhouette, which is the kind of move that can feel sentimental, but here stayed fairly sharp. She paired it with pearls and uncut gemstones from The Gem Palace, keeping it close to home without overplaying the nostalgia.

Padmanabh, on the other hand, leaned into craft with a phulghar coat built in velvet, quilted with cotton, and hand-embroidered over 600 hours by Jaipur artisans. Side note: he does clean up well.

Diya Mehta Jatia

For designer Mayyur Girotra, the charming lanes of Kolkata and the endangered shola craft came together as the perfect inspiration for his design debut. “We make it by hand. This is a product given by God and we craft it in such a way that it won’t break,” says an artisan, describing how they work with the water-based plant shola, which are used to make lightweight decorations adorning Bengal’s famed pujo pandals.

Fashion consultant Diya Mehta Jatia wore a custom Mayyur Girotra gown, in a metallic, rustic gold Kanjivaram with an ivory-sheath overlay made using recycled industrial waste and raw compounds inspired by Shola craft . The stunning details on the sheath, featured intricately carved filigree work with 3D rosettes, all drawing inspiration from Baroque architechture.