When Princess Diana stepped onto the red carpet at the Met Gala in 1996, the world paused. Newly divorced from Prince Charles, this was her first and only appearance at the famed fashion fundraiser. And she made it unforgettable by altering her designer gown, shocking even the designer who created it.
The navy silk slip dress by John Galliano, touted as her first foray into post-divorce fashion rebellion, was meant to be worn with a corset. But Diana had other ideas. She turned it into a negligee-inspired statement.
Flying into New York hours earlier, Diana was trailed by flashing cameras from the tarmac to the iconic steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was joined by her close friend and the evening’s chair, Harper’s Bazaar editor Liz Tilberis, as she made her way into what was then a very exclusive fashion circle.
The navy blue silk slip dress, trimmed with black lace, was unlike anything Diana had worn before. Mr Galliano, who had just started hsi tenure at Dior, had consulted with Diana at Kensington Palace, sketching out ideas and trying to persuade her to wear pink. “She was not having it,” he said in the Hulu series In Vogue: The 90s.
Instead, she chose something darker and bolder, and then altered it without telling him. “I couldn’t believe it,” Mr Galliano recalled. “She’d ripped the corset out. She didn’t want to wear the corset,” because she “felt so liberated.”
Diana’s wardrobe had long been under scrutiny, dictated by royal protocol and the weight of monarchy. But on that night, those rules no longer applied.
For accessories, she wore her signature sapphire and pearl choker, the one she paired with her iconic “revenge dress” and the “Travolta dress” from her White House dance. On her finger was her sapphire engagement ring. Years later, her son Prince William would propose to Kate Middleton with that very ring.
The mini Dior handbag she carried, once a gift from France’s First Lady, had been renamed the “Lady Dior” in her honour.
Now, nearly three decades later, the Met Gala continues, and stars are once again walking the same steps Princess Diana once did. The 2025 Met Gala, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, celebrates the theme ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’.
This year’s theme shines a light on the history and impact of Black dandyism – a unique style rooted in elegance, rebellion, and cultural pride. Inspired by Dr Monica L Miller’s book Slaves to Fashion, the exhibition also marks the Costume Institute’s first menswear-focused showcase since 2003.