Isha Ambani Wears Manish Malhotra x Swadesh at Vogue Party

Isha Ambani turned up at Vogue’s First Friday Met Gala Pre-Party on Friday evening in a handcrafted custom look by Manish Malhotra x Swadesh. The party at Madame Tussauds on 42nd Street in Times Square served as the Met Gala weekend kickoff, with Google and Uber Eats presenting the event.

Madame Tussauds on 42nd Street

The setting mattered as much as the guest list. Vogue staged the annual First Friday party inside the rooms of the waxwork museum at Madame Tussauds, a venue choice that fit the event’s role as the opening note of Met Gala weekend rather than a standalone stop.

Chloe Malle, Teyana Taylor, and Simone Ashley hosted the party, which also drew Michael Kors into the elevator, where he said, "I’ve definitely never been here—I mean, have any of us". The line captured the mood of a night built around fashion spectacle, but the practical detail for readers is simpler: this was the place to see which names arrived early and how they dressed for the first major social event in the run-up.

Google Try On activation

Guests also explored a Google Try On activation using AI to see themselves in archival couture and runway looks. That put technology directly into the fashion crowd’s hands, turning the party from a red-carpet watchpoint into an interactive display of styling and digital fitting.

Ambani’s appearance fit that frame cleanly. The custom Manish Malhotra x Swadesh look placed her in the center of a collaboration-driven fashion moment, and the handcrafted detail gave the outfit a distinct identity inside a room full of high-visibility arrivals.

First Friday sets the tone

Friday evening’s party carried the easiest read of the night: the Met Gala weekend had started, and the first major turnout set the tone for the rest of the fashion calendar around it. For readers tracking who showed up and what they wore, Ambani’s look was the one to note because it tied a named guest to a named designer pairing at a named kickoff event.

The next thing to watch is the rest of the Met Gala weekend crowd, but Ambani’s arrival already answered the immediate question for anyone following the pre-party circuit: she was there, she wore a handcrafted custom Manish Malhotra x Swadesh look, and she joined the event that opened the weekend’s fashion run.