Designers who Dressed Indian Origin Celebrities for Met Gala 2024

Red carpet, lights, camera everywhere and fashion at its peak. The Met Gala is every fashion-lover’s most eccentric, fun and aspirational dream come true. And 2024 was the year that brought out the best in haute couture for the annual fundraising gala for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. 

Theme of the Year

This year’s exhibit was ‘Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion’, which examines how technology can breathe new life into garments that are too old and fragile to be worn again. And the theme for the red carpet was ‘The Garden of Time’, which gets its name from English novelist J.G. Ballard. The inspiration is his story about a count who, to stave off an angry mob nearing his castle, cuts a rose from his garden to slow down time until there are no flowers remaining. 

Alia Bhatt - Sabyasachi

Alia Bhatt glammed up in a custom-designed, mint green Sabyasachi saree for the Met Gala 2024. Anaita Shroff Adajania, Bollywood’s OG stylist, curated Bhatt's look. The saree was studded with real gems and featured a 23-foot-long trail in honour of the theme. It is all hand embroidery. It took 1905 man-hours and 163 craftsmen, and embroidery workers to make this garment.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee made history at the Met Gala 2024, becoming the first Indian fashion designer to grace the illustrious event. He wore an embroidered cotton duster coat from the Sabyasachi Resort 2024 collection layered with tourmalines, pearls, emeralds, and diamonds from Sabyasachi High Jewellery.

Alia shared the pictures of her look on her official social media handles and wrote, “It was a call to the Garden of Time - an ode to art and eternity. Timelessness is endless, and we acknowledge that things crafted with time and care, can last forever. In our journey for an Indian interpretation of this universal theme, the outfit took on a life of its own."

“Nothing embodies tradition and innovation like the saree; in the skilled hands of #SabyasachiMukherjee, this vision found its fullest expression. We looked to the past as a guide for the future, drawing inspiration from the timeless sophistication of Indian nobility. We focused on intricate craftsmanship, incorporating hand embroidery, precious stones, along with elegant beadwork and fringes, distinctive of the 1920’s fringe style. Our colour palette pays homage to nature's beauty, echoing the earth, sky, and sea.” she said.

Isha Ambani - Rahul Mishra

For Met Gala 2024, Isha Ambani embodied floral fantasy with a custom-made Rahul Mishra saree gown. The piece featured the most exquisite trail, entirely covered in the designer’s signature floral motifs. The golden gown took over 10,000 hours to complete and boasted delicate samples of flowers, butterflies, and dragonflies. 

Stylist Anaita Shroff Adajania, who also curated Isha’s look, shared on social media, “For this year’s Met Gala theme of “The Garden of Time”, Rahul and I set out to depict nature’s glorious and bountiful lifecycle in this custom look for Isha, which took over 10,000 hours to complete. This look embraces sustainability by incorporating elements from Rahul’s past collections. Delicate samples of flowers, butterflies, and dragonflies were meticulously integrated from the archives into the design, via distinct applique and embroidery techniques,such as Fareesha, Zardozi, Nakshi, and Dabka, as well as French knots. Together, all of these elements carry a powerful narrative about the state of the planet and offer a message of hope and rebirth. The magnificent look was intricately hand-embroidered at Rahul Mishra’s ateliers across several Indian villages, supporting hundreds of local craftspeople and weavers.”

Natasha Poonawalla - John Galliano

Natasha Poonawalla never fails to rock, be it on a red carpet, party or an event. For her recent appearance at the Met Gala 2024, Natasha yet again stole the show in a custom look from Maison Margiela’s Artisanal collection, which has been designed by ace designer John Galliano. This British fashion designer is known for his ready-to-wear and haute-couture collections for such fashion houses as Christian Dior, Givenchy, and Maison Margiela.

Sharing the pictures on Instagram, Natasha Poonawalla wrote, “Rebirth and renewal – notions which are so important not only in us as individuals, but themes which drive creativity forward. It is such an immense joy and privilege to work with John Galliano on The Met, a designer who first made me fall in love with fashion and who has had a huge influence on my deep appreciation for creativity.”

She further shared, “Our interpretation of this year’s dress code was a journey which evolved and was shaped as we got to know each other. We loved the idea of the fragility of time and life co-existing with strength and permanence and incorporating my own sleeping beauties; my set of wedding jewels. It has been an honour to work together with a legend, and such an open creative collaborator to make an everlasting living piece of art.”

Mona Patel - Iris Van Herpen

An Indian-origin businesswoman and philanthropist, Mona Patel made her debut at the Met Gala this year. Born in Vadodara, Gujarat, Patel moved to the US at a young age to pursue higher education at Rutgers University and finally settled there in 2003 to give life to her entrepreneurial endeavours. Now permanently based in the US, Patel has slowly built a million-dollar empire that spans multiple businesses, at the heart of which lies Patel’s brainchild, Couture For Cause, a non-profit that combines her love for fashion and her philanthropic pursuits together to support meaningful causes. 

Styled by Law Roach, Mona’s body-hugging gown by Iris Van Herpen comes with an unexpected accent - an array of kinetic butterflies encircling her arms like opera gloves, fluttering their wings in slow motion. She was quoted in an interview, “I wanted my debut look to be something that celebrates my heritage and also combines my love of couture, and when I heard of the theme, Iris Van Herpen seemed like the obvious choice.” Iris is a Dutch fashion designer known for fusing technology with traditional haute couture craftsmanship.

Simone Ashley - Prabal Gurung

Bridgerton actor Simone Ashley graced the Met Gala 2024 carpet in a cutout navy blue dress by ace designer Prabal Gurung. For the Met Gala 2024, Prabal Gurung assembled a group of Laufey, Maria Sharapova, Simone Ashley, Demi Lovato, Amanda Fuhrman, Gayle Rankin and Ugbad Abdi to dress for the night. 

Prabal was quoted saying, “The Garden of Time theme for me is about celebrating beautiful, cherished garments that are designed for longevity, and stand the test of time. It is about a timeless elegance that is authentic to each wearer and designer, rather than following trends. Reawakening fashion is a call to reinterpret the classics — to put your own unique spin on each piece as a work of art, invigorating the garments with life and energy.”