Met Gala 2026 landed on May 4 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and the region had more than a seat at the table. It had a hand in building it. Themed “Costume Art” with a dress code of “Fashion is Art,” this year’s event was co-chaired by Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour. The mandate was simple: show up as a living artwork. South Asia and the UAE did not just comply. They led.
A Dubai Artist Was at the Center of the Entire Exhibition
The most powerful UAE moment of the night did not happen on the red carpet. It happened inside the museum itself.
Palestinian Canadian artist Samar Hejazi, who is now based in Dubai, was personally selected by Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton to create bespoke heads for all 200-plus mannequins in the “Costume Art” exhibition. Each mannequin wears a polished steel head with a mirrored surface, designed so that visitors literally see themselves in the garments and bodies on display. The exhibition, which opens to the public on May 10 and runs through January 10, 2027, features nearly 400 objects spanning more than five centuries of fashion history.
Hejazi also walked the red carpet, wearing a custom gown by Zaid Farouki, a Palestinian designer also based in Dubai. She arrived styled entirely in Arab designers, including pieces from Reemami, Okhtein, and Andrea Wazen.
Indian Fashion Had Its Biggest Met Gala Night Yet
If the red carpet had a theme-within-a-theme, it was Indian craft on a global stage, and it was impossible to miss.
Karan Johar made his Met Gala debut in a look co-created with Manish Malhotra and styled by Eka Lakhani, who was also making her debut as a Met Gala stylist. The standout piece was a dramatic floor-length cape covered in motifs pulled from the mythological and royal paintings of Raja Ravi Varma. The cape was the work of more than 50 artisans in Mumbai and Delhi, completed over nearly 960 hours.
Manish Malhotra walked the carpet too, marking his second consecutive appearance at the event. He wore a tailored black bandhgala with a statement cape, created through the same months-long artisanal process, a tribute to the craftspeople whose work rarely gets this kind of visibility.
Isha Ambani arrived in a Gaurav Gupta couture interpretation of the saree, featuring a blouse embedded with heirloom stones from Nita Ambani’s private collection, treating jewellery and garment as a single unified piece.
Sudha Reddy collaborated with Manish Malhotra and stylist Mariel Haenn on a couture piece drawing from the Kalamkari textile tradition of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, with the Tree of Life as its central motif.
Natasha Poonawalla wore a sculptural “Orchid Pectoral” created by British artist Marc Quinn, paired with a white couture gown by Domenico Dolce. The large petal structure surrounding her body made for one of the most visually arresting moments of the evening.
Image: Vogue India/Website
Mona Patel‘s custom Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda look, titled “Renaissance Genius,” featured a silk gazar cape printed with da Vinci manuscripts, the Vitruvian Man positioned at the center of the back, and a sculptural ivory gown with a woven spine detail and radiating drape. The ensemble was photographed inside the Duomo’s library in Milan.
Ananya Birla made her debut in a custom Robert Wun creation, pairing a structured architectural black jacket and voluminous skirt with a dramatic stainless steel face mask by artist Subodh Gupta. The mask brought her in line with the night’s most conceptual looks.
Indian Royalty and a Historic Model Debut
Image: Vogue India/Website
Princess Gauravi Kumari of Jaipur wore her great-grandmother Maharani Gayatri Devi’s vintage pink chiffon saree, which was reimagined into a structured gown by Prabal Gurung. The titular Maharaja of Jaipur, Sawai Padmanabh Singh, wore a richly embroidered velvet coat featuring a Suryavanshi sun motif on the back, crafted over hundreds of hours using aari and zardozi techniques.
Indian model Bhavitha Mandava, Chanel’s first Indian house ambassador, made her Met Gala debut wearing Chanel, specifically a look that mirrored her own historic runway debut: relaxed denim, a sheer full-sleeved top layered over a white tank. The choice sparked conversation online, though her presence at the event itself was widely celebrated.
What the Met Gala 2026 Confirmed About the Region
The 2026 Met Gala was not just a fashion event. It was a statement about which cities, which crafts, and which communities are now shaping the global conversation around art and clothing. A Dubai studio supplied the visual identity for the entire Costume Institute exhibition. Indian designers dressed some of the night’s most talked-about attendees. And a new generation of South Asian talent made their debut on fashion’s most-watched stage. The region showed up, and it showed out.
Cover Image: @manishmalhotra05, @sudhareddy.official. @karanjohar, @natasha.poonawalla/Instagram
