South Asian Looks at the 2026 Met Gala: 5 Lehenga and Couture Trends Australian Brides Can Steal
Published 6 May 2026 · Last updated 6 May 2026 · DesiWed Editorial
TL;DR for Australian brides
The 2026 Met Gala theme was “Costume Art,” and the South Asian contingent (Karan Johar, Isha Ambani, Sudha Reddy, Natasha Poonawalla, Ananya Birla, Simone Ashley, designer Manish Malhotra) read it literally. The looks were paintings, frescoes, sculptures and heirloom gem displays you could photograph as art before they were clothes. Five trends transferred cleanly from a Manhattan staircase to an Australian wedding mandap, and each one is bookable through DesiWed-listed vendors. Skip the head-to-toe imitation. Pick one trend, push it hard.
What actually happened on the 2026 Met Gala carpet
The Costume Institute’s 2026 exhibition framed clothing as a fine-art medium, and the South Asian guest list ran with it. Karan Johar made his Met debut in a custom Manish Malhotra ensemble inspired by the painter Raja Ravi Varma, with hand-painted panels and zardozi borders depicting Hamsa Damayanti and Arjuna and Subhadra. Isha Ambani wore a Gaurav Gupta sari with gold threadwork and hand-painted fresco motifs (covered in WWD’s getting-ready feature). Sudha Reddy walked in a Manish Malhotra design built around Kalamkari art, paired with a 550-carat tanzanite necklace. Natasha Poonawalla wore a Marc Quinn sculptural Orchid Pectoral with Dolce & Gabbana. Ananya Birla debuted in a stainless steel sculptural look that doubled as the art piece. Manish Malhotra himself wore a black bandhgala with a cape embroidered with the signatures of his atelier’s artisans.
(The full coverage is across Eastern Eye and Storyboard18 if you want the wider gallery.)
None of those budgets translate to a Sydney or Melbourne wedding. The ideas do. Here are the five trends Australian brides can lift, with the vendors on DesiWed who can actually execute them.
Trend 1: Hand-painted narrative couture
Met Gala reference: Karan Johar’s Raja Ravi Varma panels (Manish Malhotra) and Isha Ambani’s hand-painted fresco motifs (Gaurav Gupta).
What it actually is: turning your outfit into a painted scene. Not floral embroidery, not mirror-work, but figurative or narrative imagery (mythology, miniature art, family motifs) hand-painted onto silk panels and then framed with embroidery. The reason it photographed so well is that the painting reads at distance, while the embroidery rewards the close-up.
How to steal it for an Australian wedding: commission a single hand-painted dupatta or pallu rather than a full lehenga in this style. The dupatta is the photographed object during the varmala and pheras, and a painted dupatta gives you the Met Gala visual language without committing the entire outfit. Brief your designer with two or three reference images (a temple fresco from your family’s region, a personal motif) and ask for the painted panels to be backed with zardouzi or kundan only at the borders so the painting stays the hero. Poojas Couture is one DesiWed-listed clothing vendor that takes custom briefs of this kind. Send your wedding date to Poojas Couture on DesiWed →
Trend 2: Heritage textile revival (Kalamkari, Pattachitra, fresco)
Met Gala reference: Sudha Reddy’s Kalamkari-inspired Manish Malhotra ensemble.
What it actually is: Indian craft traditions that have been quiet on bridal carpets for the last decade are coming back as feature techniques rather than accent details. Kalamkari (block-printed and pen-drawn fabric from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), Pattachitra (Odisha scroll painting on cloth), and Madhubani (folk painting from Bihar) are now reading as luxury rather than craft-fair, partly because the labour and provenance are now part of the story.
How to steal it for an Australian wedding: use heritage textile as the bridal blouse, not the lehenga skirt. The skirt and dupatta carry the embellishment; the blouse can take a heavier print or hand-paint without the look becoming overwhelming. Australian brides with regional family ties (a grandmother from Andhra, a Bihari mother) can ask for a heritage technique specific to that region and put it directly on the body. Modern Day Rani stocks contemporary South Asian bridal silhouettes that work as a base for heritage textile inserts. Browse Modern Day Rani on DesiWed →
Trend 3: Sculptural drape and architectural pallu
Met Gala reference: Isha Ambani’s Gaurav Gupta sari (architectural drape, structured pallu rather than a falling one).
What it actually is: the drape itself is the silhouette. Gaurav Gupta has built his label on saris that hold a sculptural shape rather than flowing, and the 2026 Met Gala look pushed it further: the pallu read like a cape or a wing, not a length of fabric. The technical work is in the underpinnings and the pleating; the visual payoff is that the bride looks engineered, not draped.
How to steal it for an Australian wedding: book a saree drapist who treats drape as architecture rather than as styling. The drape isn’t decided on the morning of the wedding; it’s planned, sometimes pre-stitched, and rehearsed. The Drape Diaries in Sydney is one of the DesiWed-listed specialists who runs trial sessions where the drape is built and tested before the day. Book The Drape Diaries on DesiWed →
For brides who want the structured-pallu look without committing to a sculptural sari, ask the drapist for a “double-pallu” or pre-pleated cape style on a more traditional Banarasi or Kanjeevaram. You get most of the architectural visual at a fraction of the design budget.
Trend 4: One heirloom gemstone, no full set
Met Gala reference: Sudha Reddy’s 550-carat tanzanite necklace, the heirloom emeralds reported across the South Asian guest list.
Natasha Poonawalla extended the same logic to wearable sculpture rather than jewellery: one bold focal object on a quiet base. Same trend, different material.
What it actually is: a deliberate move away from the full polki set (necklace + earrings + maang tikka + nath + bangles + arm cuffs) toward one statement heirloom piece, often a stone with provenance, paired with much simpler everything else. The single piece becomes the photograph. The rest of the outfit lets it.
How to steal it for an Australian wedding: if your family has a piece (your grandmother’s choker, an emerald necklace from a great-aunt, a gold thaali set), put that single piece front and centre and ask your stylist to dial everything else back. This is a budget trend disguised as a luxury trend; one strong piece reads more expensive than five medium pieces. AU-based bridal jewellers can also rework an existing family piece into a more wearable setting if the original is too heavy or too dated. Worth asking your hair and makeup artist to brief the styling around the piece, not the other way around. Studio Shimona and Jigisha Patel Makeup Artist both take styling briefs that work backwards from a single jewellery piece. Book Studio Shimona or Jigisha Patel on DesiWed →
Trend 5: Cape couture for cooler-season weddings
Met Gala reference: Karan Johar’s painted Manish Malhotra cape and Manish Malhotra’s own cape with the signatures of his atelier’s artisans.
Ananya Birla pushed the same idea to its sculptural extreme: structured outerwear as the entire silhouette, the dress reading as armour. The cape is the modest version of this conversation.
What it actually is: a tailored cape worn over a sherwani, lehenga or bandhgala, often heavier in embroidery than the base outfit, doubling as both a fashion statement and a temperature buffer. It’s not a dupatta. It hangs structured, sometimes with shoulder construction, and it’s photographed in motion.
How to steal it for an Australian wedding: if you’re a May, June, July or August bride in Sydney or Melbourne (the cooler half of the AU wedding calendar), the cape solves a real problem. A heavily embroidered velvet or silk cape over the lehenga keeps you warm during outdoor garden ceremonies, photographs beautifully on a windy lawn, and removes for the reception. Brief your designer for the cape as the showpiece and underbase as understated. The cape can also be reworked from a relative’s wedding outfit (a vintage sherwani, an old shawl) which adds heritage to the cost saving. Sai Garlands is on DesiWed for floral garland and cape-adjacent accessory styling that completes the look. Enquire with Sai Garlands on DesiWed →
How Australian brides should actually use this list
Pick one. The brides who read these trend reports and try to combine all five end up with looks that fight each other. The Met Gala South Asian contingent each ran one strong idea, all the way through. Ananya Birla committed to sculptural steel and went silent on every other element. Sudha Reddy let the tanzanite do the talking. Karan Johar’s outfit was a painting, full stop.
If you’re already engaged and within twelve months of the wedding, the trend most achievable on a typical Australian timeline is trend three (sculptural drape) because it depends on a drapist’s skill rather than a long lead-time custom commission. Trends one, two and five all need a designer who can take a custom brief, which means a 6 to 9 month lead. Trend four costs nothing extra if the piece already exists in the family.
For more on what AU South Asian brides are choosing in 2026, see our 2026 Indian bridal lehenga trends report. For booking, browse the full DesiWed clothing and accessories directory, and use the DesiWed Wedding Vendor Tracker to keep your designer briefs, fittings and deposits in one place.
Author: DesiWed Editorial. Sources: WWD, Eastern Eye, Storyboard18. DesiWed lists South Asian wedding vendors in Australia. We do not represent or recommend external operators.
