Met Gala 2025 Look: Diljit Dosanjh's Maharaja look proudly presents Punjabi culture

At the 2025 Met Gala, amid the glamour and grandeur of global fashion royalty, it was Diljit Dosanjh who made one of the most powerful statements of the evening with authenticity.

Diljit stands true to his culture

Dressed in an ivory-gold sherwani and turban ensemble that paid homage to the regal legacy of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, Diljit brought to the carpet his own language of identity, anchored in Sikh tradition, Punjabi heritage, and sartorial splendour.

Created in collaboration with American-Nepalese designer Prabal Gurung, his outfit blended classical Indian royal attire with contemporary tailoring. A traditional tehmat grounded the look in Punjabi culture, while the sherwani’s structured silhouette brought formalism.

But the detailing was what held the fit together: whether it was the lion-headed kirpan gleaming at his waist, or the kalgi-adorned turban sparkling with quiet authority. The cape that fluttered behind him bore a silhouetted map of Punjab and Gurmukhi script embroidered in reverence.

“I bring my turban, my culture and my mother tongue Punjabi to the Met Gala,” Diljit said. His authenticity is what makes him stand out, and helps tie him closer to his roots.

The jewellery, commissioned from Indian jewellers Golecha’s, was inspired by the lost grandeur of the Patiala Necklace, which was once the largest ever created by Cartier. While the original remains sealed away in a museum (its absence a lasting wound of colonial extraction), Diljit’s layered necklaces symbolised a reclamation via narrative. His stylist Abhilasha Devnani worked from archival images of the Maharaja, reimagining the glamour through a modern lens.

The ensemble was no costume. It was an act of living memory, a nod to diasporic pride, and a subtle rebuke of the Met’s past flirtations with cultural appropriation. Where others have borrowed culture for spectacle, Diljit wore his as birthright.

Diljit didn’t try to fit into the Gala’s story, instead he weaved his own into the theme.

From Coachella to sold-out arenas across continents, Diljit Dosanjh has been steadily shaping what global Indian identity looks and sounds like. At the Met Gala 2025, he crystallised it in fabric and form.