Fashion designer, couturier, costume stylist, entrepreneur, filmmaker… Manish Malhotra wears many hats. But at the end of the day, he is  best known for dressing up the most beautiful women and men in the universe.Manish, to what do we owe this incredible aesthetics that does India so proud?Well, India is so rich in heritage and tradition, culture, colour, textile, skill and artisans. For me, as a mainstream designer, who is looking to move ahead on global platforms with our work, it is an exciting challenge. I want to put the spotlight on Indian artisans and their work. This was my second time at the Met Gala. This year’s theme, Costume Art, was special as I come from the world of costumes. For my personal outfit, I wanted to pay a tribute to my city Mumbai and to my atelier and acknowledge the hard work of my design team on a global platform.Besides Karan Johar, who else did you dress up this year at the Meta Gala?Sudha Reddy being from Hyderabad, I wanted it to be based on art and craft from her region. So, we did embroidery inspired by Kalamkari and we embroidered a tree of life which depicts the emotion of timelessness. For the young Riverdale actress Camila Mendes, it was an outfit which had texture like brush strokes to a painting like Amrita Shergill’s art.And your showstopper?Our showstopper Karan Johar… We spoke and he mentioned Raja Ravi Verma. I liked the idea and we immediately got down to designing and sketching. We had a zoom meeting with Karan and his stylist Eka Lakhani. I was in London, that’s why the zoom call. Karan was bowled over after seeing the sketches and the hard work began — painting, 3D printing and vintage zardosi embroidery, texturising the silk and then all the detailing to the piece. It took days of hard work.How do you look back on your extraordinary romance with fabrics so far?Speaking about me, my 35 years as a costume designer, I still do one or two movies and my mainstream business is now 20 years old. What’s next for me would be a global expansion, which is challenging and exciting.Which is the one celebrity you haven’t dressed and would like to?Having worked with every actor in India, from Chunky Pandey to Ananya, from Sridevi ma’am to Janhvi and Khushi… I think what I really look forward to is dressing Meryl Streep, one of my most favourite actresses, and Madonna. Madonna is again an original, a classic, like as they say, OG. I love nostalgia. I’ve worked with Beyonce, I’ve worked with Rihanna. I’ve worked with Jennifer Lopez as well. I’m really looking forward to dressing up Madonna and Meryl Streep.