The Met and Sabyasachi’s landmark multi-year collaboration begins with a Byzantine-inspired High Jewellery collection, bringing Indian craftsmanship into conversation with 5,000 years of global art and redefining the place of Indian luxury on the world stage.
The global fashion ecosystem has always had a complicated relationship with Indian design. While elements of Indian maximalism — its colours, embroidered details, textiles, and ornaments — have found their way to international runways, the Western world has often struggled to see the culture that produced them as anything more than a source of inspiration and artisanal labour. Sabyasachi Mukherjee, arguably the best-known Indian designer working today, has spent much of the last two decades pushing against that hierarchy. His latest collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York gives that effort a powerful institutional stage.
The multi-year partnership between The Met and Sabyasachi will see the designer draw from the museum’s vast collection of more than 5,000 years of global art and cultural objects, transforming selected historical objects into contemporary luxury through Indian craftsmanship. Its first chapter, a High Jewellery collection debuting during New York Fashion Week on September 15, turns to the art of the Byzantine Empire. ”The Byzantine world was not defined by a single geography. It was shaped by the movement of people, ideas, and craftsmanship across continents including India. What fascinates me is not only Byzantium itself, but the civilizations that informed it and the extraordinary artistic dialogue that emerged from interactions through trade. I find similarities to my home, Calcutta, itself a commercial hub influenced by trade and exchange,” Sabyasachi says.
The collection draws inspiration from the art of the Byzantine Empire, the eastern continuation of the Roman Empire centered in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) from the fourth through fifteenth centuries CE, and its vast sphere of creative influence. The resulting jewellery moves between Roman sculpture, Byzantine carvings, medieval Christian iconography, and Islamic art. The veteran Indian designer is not only borrowing the authority of The Met’s archives to make luxury objects of desire. He is positioning Indian craftsmanship as an active participant in a much larger history of luxury and cultural exchange. Every piece will be conceived and handcrafted in India by the house's network of master artisans.
“We are passionate about uplifting stories of creativity and craftsmanship housed in The Met collection through collaborations with modern day makers. Engaging with Sabyasachi and his team allows us to view works from antiquity through a new lens, shining a spotlight on stories of the past through his creative viewpoint. We look forward to sparking conversations that inspire fans of The Met and Sabyasachi to immerse themselves in the past, present, and future of art and design.”Stephen Mannello, Head of Retail and Global Licensing at The Met
Since founding his house in 1999, Mukherjee has built an aesthetic world in which Indian textiles, jewellery, craft traditions, and visual histories are not peripheral references but the foundation of a luxury vocabulary. The house describes its ambition as establishing “a distinctly Indian vision of global luxury” that reflects how dramatically the perception of Indian fashion has shifted in recent years.
For Sabyasachi, the multi-year Met collaboration signals a new, deeper engagement with historic works of art — a longstanding reference for artist and designers for centuries — recognizing India’s contribution to the history of art, craftsmanship, and luxury, not as an emerging participant, but as one of its enduring authors.
The collection will debut at a runway presentation during New York Fashion Week on September 15, 2026. Pieces will be available at the Sabyasachi flagship located at 160 Christopher Street in New York City’s West Village, other global Sabyasachi stores, and select specialty retailers worldwide.
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