Met Gala 2025 Live Updates: Designers Manish Malhotra and Sabyasachi take centre-stage

Manish Malhotra, making his much-anticipated debut at the event, arrived in a striking custom ensemble that reflected his signature blend of classic glamour and intricate craftsmanship.

Manish Malhotra and Sabyasachi redefine Indian couture

Manish wore a black overcoat shrug adorned with ornate gold detailing, layered over a crisp white bishop-sleeve shirt—an elegant fusion of structured tailoring and regal embellishment.

The foundation of his ensemble—a deep velvet sherwani—anchored the fit in Indian formalwear tradition. Its richness was felt not only in the fabric’s depth but in its painstaking craftsmanship: tonal cord work, gilded thread, and glass-bead embroidery that whispered rather than shouted.

Draped over it was a sharply structured blazer, a subtle nod to Western suiting, yet cut in a way that honoured Indian silhouettes, which are longer in line, softer in shoulder, regal in posture.

Most striking, however, was the sweeping Inverness-style cape, which fused theatricality with gravitas. Its silhouette—theatrical yet precise—offered an embrace of Black Dandy culture’s elegance and edge, while simultaneously evoking Indian royalty.

Accessories, too, were laden with meaning. The cluster of high jewellery brooches at the neck defied minimalism in favor of narrative. Paired with a crisp black tie, the look balanced old-world glamour with new-world restraint.

Malhotra’s decision to keep the palette monochrome was particularly potent. It allowed texture to take center stage, invited viewers to look closer, and asserted that power need not be loud to be heard.

Beyond walking the carpet, Malhotra made headlines for dressing some of the evening’s most memorable looks. Natasha Poonawalla stunned in a custom couture creation that reimagined traditional Gara saris into a modern expression of dandyism.

Meanwhile, American singer and actress Coco Jones wore an ivory tuxedo coat designed by Malhotra, subtly nodding to the gala’s theme of Black dandyism, and blending Indian techniques with Western silhouettes.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee, who made history in 2024 as the first Indian designer to walk the Met Gala carpet, returned in 2025 in equally grand fashion.

This time, he arrived as a guest, accompanied by Bollywood legend Shah Rukh Khan, who wore a majestic custom sherwani by the designer. Known for his reverence for Indian heritage and opulent textiles, Sabyasachi’s presence further solidified the place of Indian artisanship on fashion’s most prestigious stage.

Whether through vintage Gara saris reimagined in couture form or regal sherwanis tailored for red carpet royalty, both designers proved that tradition and innovation can exist in exquisite harmony.