The official annual Met Gala has not arrived yet, but for a certain community, one of its biannual galas actually has. I am talking about Eid, which is hilariously branded as the ‘Muslim Met Gala’ by the internet.
At first, I felt that comparing Eid to the Met Gala sounded flippant. It reduced the spiritual celebration to just a couture showcase. But for anyone who has spent a couple of days on the internet before Eid or foraged the markets for a dress, the comparison is not entirely wrong.
Eid has a culture and couture of its own. It is no longer about biryani and sewaiyan (sweet vermicelli).
At the heart of it, Eid has always been about preparation, new clothes, food, henna designs, markets, and tailors. Social media didn’t create the hype. It just amplified it. And before we knew it, the Eid outfits were not just documented, but staged, in carefully curated pictures that had months of Pinterest scrolls and mood boards behind them.
Weeks in advance, group chats begin to hum with outfit discussions. Tailors are booked out. Pinterest boards quietly come alive with references for ghararas, farshi salwars, and that one perfect kurta that feels just right. Chand Raat is no longer just the night the moon is sighted; it is an event in itself, complete with elaborate mehendi, stacks of bangles, and carefully curated “get ready with me” videos. The hashtags #eidoutfits and #muslimmetgala have garnered millions of views on social media platforms.
And it’s not just women. Men, too, have entered the chat. From experimenting with cuts and fabrics in thobes and salwar kameez to the inexplicable but persistent popularity of the sparkly kurta, I have seen it in every colour imaginable. The effort is collective. Tailors and clothiers, in fact, might be the real winners of this bi-annual spectacle.
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Not a new ritual
Here’s the thing: to call this new would be inaccurate.
Eid has always been about the excitement of new clothes, the ritual of getting ready, the quiet pride in presenting your best self on a day of celebration. It is, in fact, a part of Islam to wear your finest clothes on Eid. What social media has done is turn it outward and, like every other thing, transformed a community ritual into a shared, global performance.
And like all performances, it walks a fine line.
Because somewhere between the perfect outfit shot and the perfectly plated biryani reel, there is a risk that Eid becomes something to be consumed rather than experienced. That the aesthetics begin to overshadow the essence.
But perhaps that’s too cynical.
Because there is also something undeniably joyful about it. About seeing timelines flooded not with outrage or anxiety, but with colour, celebration, and a community choosing to be seen in its most vibrant form. People beyond the community join in, engage, appreciate, and participate in the moment.
In today’s time, when the muslim identity in public discourse is highly politicised, the ‘Muslim Met Gala’ trend flips the usual script. It brings forth the message of joy, celebration, and creativity. It transforms fashion into soft power, even if the people didn’t intend for that.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)