Mumbai: Isha Ambani has been named co-chair of the Friends of the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) announced the appointment on Thursday. Ambani will work alongside Wendi Murdoch, who chairs the group, and fellow co-chairs Colby Mugrabi and Mark Guiducci.
“I’m truly honoured to have been named Co-Chair of the Friends of The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art,” Ambani said.
The Costume Institute has more than 33,000 garments and accessories in its collection, some dating back to the 15th century. It studies the evolution of fashion, preserves historical clothing and organises exhibitions.
Its 2018 exhibition, Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, remains the most visited exhibition in the Met’s history.
The institute also organises the annual Met Gala, which raises funds for its exhibitions, acquisitions and other activities.
What is the Friends of the Costume Institute?
Established in 2002, the Friends of the Costume Institute is an invited group of patrons who support the museum’s work and help promote an understanding of fashion as an art form.
Ambani has attended several Met Galas since 2017. She was also appointed a trustee of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, DC, in 2021, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in 2024.
Last October, she co-chaired the British Museum’s first Pink Ball in London alongside its director, Nicholas Cullinan. The fundraiser was held alongside Ancient India: Living Traditions, an exhibition supported by the Reliance Foundation.
The Ambanis’ association with the Met
Her mother, Nita Ambani, was the first Indian to join the Met’s Board of Trustees. She was appointed an honorary trustee in November 2019.
The Reliance Foundation, chaired by Nita Ambani, has supported the Met since 2016. It has funded exhibitions on Indian artists Nasreen Mohamedi, Raghubir Singh and Mrinalini Mukherjee. In 2023, it also supported Tree and Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India, 200 BCE–400 CE.
(Edited By Raunaq Lekhi)