- | 5:29 pm
Alia Bhatt, Isha Ambani dazzle at Met Gala red carpet
From actor Alia Bhatt in a Sabyasachi sari to billionaire Isha Ambani in a Rahul Mishra ensemble, Indian celebrities made their mark on fashion's biggest night
The first Monday in May is upon us and so is the most glamorous red carpet event of the year, the Met Gala. The stage was set right on the steps of New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, for the lucky few who were invited to the elaborate affair that makes the fashion police work overtime, year-on-year.
The gala celebrates the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute’s exhibition, the theme of which steers the designers towards creating exquisite outfits for the attendees. This time around, the spring exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” features 250 items taken out of the institute’s permanent collection.
Joining fashion icon Anna Wintour as co-chairs were musician Bad Bunny, and actors Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez, and Zendaya. The evening’s honorary chairs included celebrated designer Jonathan Anderson of Loewe and Shou Zi Chew, chief executive of TikTok. The event was also sponsored by the app, which is facing one of its biggest challenges in the country, as Congress passed a bill just last week to issue a permanent ban, unless the company chooses to sell to an American buyer.
The dress code this time around, dictated by the theme of the exhibition, was ‘Garden of Time,’ based on a short story by JG Ballard, which talks about the fall of aristocracy at the hands of an “immense rabble.”
The irony of the theme couldn’t be missed out on, as criticisms and anger towards the ultra-wealthy and aristocrat-adjacent guestlist of the gala crop up each year.
Apart from the usual crop of Hollywood celebrities and influencers, the gala this year boasted a particularly strong Indian presence.
From actor Alia Bhatt in a Sabyasachi sari to billionaire Isha Ambani in a Rahul Mishra ensemble, Indian celebrities made their mark on fashion’s biggest night.
Alia Bhatt
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Styled by Bollywood’s go-to stylist for all things red carpet, Anaita Shroff Adajania, Bhatt’s second outing of the illustrious gala was adorned by a green sari that featured on many best-dressed lists. A custom Sabyasachi look, with hand embroidered flowers and real gemstones, the sari also featured a never-ending train that trailed down the steps of the Met.
The outfit took a total of 1095 hours and 163 craftsmen to put together, Bhatt told Vogue’s correspondents actor Gwendoline Christie and model Ashley Graham, who fawned over the piece and called it “sublime.”
Isha Ambani
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Styled by Adajania, Ambani’s gown intended to capture “nature’s glorious and bountiful lifecycle.”
A custom Rahul Mishra piece, the outfit was created over 10,000 hours and—in a bid for sustainability—featured elements from Mishra’s past collections.
Delicate floral and insect motifs line the silhouette, with traditional techniques like Fareesha, Zardozi, and Nakshi embroidery, along with French knots. To finish off the look, Ambani chose a clutch by Swadesh, crafted using ancient Indian art forms such as Nakashi and miniature painting, featuring a scenery detailing a peacock, by the Jaipur artisan Hari Narain Marotia.
Natasha Poonawalla
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Natasha Poonawalla, executive director of the Serum Institute of India, is known for her unique fashion choices. She has been a regular at the gala since 2018 and has embraced the theme each time around. For this year, Poonawalla wore a custom look from Maison Margiela’s Artisanal Collection by John Galliano.
Taking a different approach to the theme, the design would remind you of a dusty old outfit, covered with cobwebs, pulled out at the last minute to add some drama to the event, in quite a literal interpretation of the theme “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” The centerpiece was a sculpted white strapless bodycon dress, covered in torn black chiffon details mimicking cobwebs.
The outfit was scores apart from the usual suspects of the red carpet, punctuated with a puffy white beret.
Her accessories included sky-high Christian Louboutin platforms and classic pearl studs.
Mona Patel
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Businesswoman and Forbes Next 1000 honoree Mona Patel’s Iris Van Herpen ensemble turned heads at her Met Gala debut in 2024.
With fluttering 3D butterfly motifs adorning her arms, the outfit captured the essence of the theme with no room for argument. The whimsical silhouette gathered a lot of praise on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), with some people even calling her the best dressed of the night.
The off-the-shoulder, body-hugging garment showcased Van Herpen’s signature sculptural mastery, with the fabric itself resembling a work of art in its marbled pattern.
Mindy Kaling
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The multi hyphenated Mindy Kaling dazzled the red carpet wearing a custom Gaurav Gupta gown, turning heads with the exaggerated silhouette of the creation. The look reminded many of Aishwarya Rai’s look from the 2022 Cannes film festival red carpet, also designed by Gupta.
The nude piece featured a large, structured cape that draped elegantly from her shoulders and flowed into a dramatic train. Gupta’s architectural creations have been all the rage in the past few years, with celebrities like Beyonce and Shakira donning them on more than one occasion.
Simone Ashley
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Indian-origin British actor Simone Ashley, who recently featured on the Netflix show Bridgerton, wore a navy blue Prabal Gurung outfit featuring cutouts. The sequins made for an interesting addition to the delicate fabric, which was styled to perfection.
Gurung had his hands full this year, as he designed outfits for many other attendees including tennis legend Maria Sharapova, singer Demi Lovato, model Ugbad Abdi, editor-in-chief at Vanity Fair, Radhika Jones, and Scottish actor Gayle Rankin.
Ambika Mod
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Netflix’s One Day’s breakout star Ambika Mod, a first-timer at the gala, opted for a classic monochrome gown by the sponsor of the event, Loewe. The Indian-origin British actor has been gathering praise for her role in the Netflix miniseries, based on a book by David Nicholls and a film starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.
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