For Indian Designers, The 2025 Met Gala Was A Powerful Homegrown Statement Of Intent

With all its over-the-top opulence, the Met Gala is the one night a year when fashion seems to have no boundaries. The world’s top designers let their imaginations run free, using celebrities as the canvases for their custom works of art. The Met Gala’s hype is built around its exclusivity, making each invite a coveted, extremely expensive opportunity to catch the world’s attention. 

Some South Asian celebrities, like Priyanka Chopra and Mindy Kaling, have been Met Gala mainstays, gracing the red carpet year after year with their exuberant looks. South Asian designers, however, have been underrepresented on fashion’s biggest night. Despite our immense impact on global fashion trends and craft, our artistry has historically been overlooked. In fact, while the Met Gala has been ongoing for 77 years now, it wasn’t until just last year that a South Asian designer, Sabyasachi, had the chance to walk the ball’s carpet. However, our designers made the most of their limited spotlight, giving us iconic looks like Alia Bhatt’s floral saree, Mindy Kaling’s gravity-defying surrealist gown, and more in 2024. 

This year, South Asian designers built on this momentum, marking a turning tide in our visibility. Designers like Sabyasachi, Manish Malhotra, Gaurav Gupta, and Prabal Gurung crafted some of the best looks of the night, making it clear that South Asian talent is not to be overlooked. This representation feels especially poignant considering the 2025 Met Gala theme, 'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style'. The theme honours Black dandyism, a movement from the 18th century that reimagined European fashion with Black individuality as a social and political tool. During a year when the Black community is finally given props for their immeasurable influence on Western fashion, it’s inspiring to watch other marginalised communities also finally be given credit where it’s due. 

Here’s our favourite South Asian designed looks from the 2025 Met Gala:

Wearing Manish Malhotra, Natasha Poonawalla’s 2025 Met Gala look embodied the individuality at the core of Black dandyism. The design drew from signature dandy silhouettes, as seen by the gown’s cumberbund-inspired torso and blazer-esque jacket with a long train. However, what sets Malhotra’s design apart is his appreciation for Poonawalla’s Parsi roots. Poonawalla’s stunning fishtail skirt was made of two vintage Gara sarees hand-sewn together, maintaining her identity as is core to the Black dandy ethos. 

Manish Malhotra, wearing himself, of course, made history as the second South Asian designer to walk the Met Gala red (or rather, blue) carpet. His sharp suit and shoulder-padded cape were covered in Indian-inspired motifs, bringing a touch of his culture to the Met Gala world stage. 

Diljit Dosanjh has been making headlines for his Punjabi-inspired look, taking elements of Black dandyism and reimagining them through his cultural lens. Dosanjh wore custom Prabal Gurung, a rising Nepali American designer. The singer’s white sherwani and floor-length cape were embroidered with hints of gold, including a design on his back of the Punjab map. He also held a lion-headed, bejewelled kirpan, paying homage to the walking stick often used by Black dandies. 

Kiara Advani’s custom Gaurav Gupta couture for the Met Gala was specifically crafted to honour her lineage and the passage of her cultural identity to the next generation. The pregnant actress’s gown was fitted with a gold breastplate, a signature Gaurav Gupta touch, showing two hearts connected by an umbilical cord. Her cape was unconventional: a long black and white blazer pinned to her back, paying direct tribute to the groundbreaking journalist and former editor-at-large of Vogue, André Leon Talley. 

Olympic runner Gabby Thomas wore an Ahluwalia gown, by Indian-Nigerian designer Priya Ahluwalia, to this year’s Met Gala. Bright red and dripping in jewels, the gown’s bust was made to look like a vest, putting a unique spin on the Black dandy suit. 

SRK’s Met Gala debut is one for the books. The global superstar wore Sabyasachi in a comparatively understated yet sophisticated look. His outfit encompassed his persona, as seen through his suit’s polished tailoring and his personalised, eccentric jewellery stack, 

Coco Jones’ Manish Malhotra suit balanced Black dandy silhouettes with an intricate beaded-lace body. Shakira’s bubblegum pink Prabal Gurung gown and grand train were impossible to miss, and last but certainly not least, Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s unique look was a purposeful defiance of norms and ode to his personal identity. 

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