When Princess Diana ascended the iconic steps at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in December 1996 for what would be her sole Met Gala appearance, she turned heads in a slinky navy blue column dress designed by John Galliano for Dior, complete with lingerie-like black lace straps and trim.
She was “liberated,” Galliano said of the late princess’s demeanor. He worked with her just months after Diana’s divorce from then-Prince Charles had been finalized, and less than a year before she died in a tragic car crash.
The designer spoke about their collaboration as part of the new Hulu docuseries In Vogue: The 90s, the second installment of which premieres on September 20.
Galliano, who recalled that Diana was his very first couture client at Dior, described collaborating with the late Princess of Wales in an interview for the show.
“I remember one day we all jumped into this old van, and we went to London, where we met Princess Diana. She’d been invited to the Met, and she would wear one of my dresses,” he said. He called the experience “a blessing,” and said that though he “was trying to push for pink” for the design, “she was not having it.”
They settled on the final navy blue, and after the dress was sewn and fitted, Galliano dubbed the look “beautifully done.”
“Fast-forward to the event, and I just remember her getting out of the car,” he recalled. “I couldn’t believe it. She’d ripped the corset out. She didn’t want to wear the corset.”
Diana had freed herself, in more ways than one.
“She felt so liberated. She’d torn the corset out. The dress was much more sensuous,” he said of the final look, which she paired with statement jewelry and, for part of the evening, a robe-like topper. The bag that she carried at the event was eventually renamed the Lady Dior in her honor.
The long tradition of on-the-spot alterations and outfit changes at the Met Gala lives on to this day: At the 2024 gala, co-chair Zendaya wore two completely different looks to open and close the carpet before the event, and guest Tyla, whose ultra-fragile, sand-inspired Balmain gown required that she be carried up the Met steps to keep the dress intact, sheared the gown at the knees once inside the event. Galliano, too, is still making Met Gala magic: In 2024, he designed Kim Kardashian‘s fairytale-inspired look at Maison Margiela Artisanal. Unlike Diana those many years ago, she kept her corset intact.
Watch In Vogue: The 90s on Hulu to see fashion’s biggest names, from Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour herself to Galliano, Kardashian, supermodels Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Kate Moss, plus a bevy of designers and celebrities, among them Stella McCartney, Tom Ford, and more, reveal the secrets and surprises of an iconic decade at fashion’s most revered title. The first installment of the docuseries is live now, with the second installment premiering September 20.
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