Princess Diana has attended the Met Gala only once, but her appearance in 1996 helped mark the current identity of the event. According to the Daily Mail, Wintour took control of the gala event the very year before Diana attended, and according to former staff member it was the arrival of the princess that compelled Wintour to transform it from a “social dinner” to “one of the most anticipated events in the fashion calendar.”
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Princess Diana attended the event alongside Dior’s designer John Galliano. He later opened up about the concept behind her dress in a special docuseries with Hulu.
She turned heads in a navy slip dress with a lace-trimmed design. The gown, created by Galliano, featured rutched black lace straps and a V-neckline trimmed with matching lace and a corset. She completed the look with a matching robe, sapphire earrings, and a choker necklace and a mini Dior bag made the outfit stand out. However, Princess Diana made a daring last-minute change that no one expected.
Galliano recalled being stunned when Diana arrived without the corset that was a part of the dress. She had removed the structured piece herself. She then stepped out of the car and posed for the paparazzi.
“We did the dress and subsequent fittings, and it was beautifully done,” he said. “Fast-forward to the event, and I just remember her getting out of the car. I couldn’t believe it. She’d ripped the corset out,” John Galliano said.
John Galliano added that Princess Diana felt “liberated” by the change. He said it transformed the outfit into something softer and more daring.
“She didn’t want to wear the corset,” he said. “She felt so liberated. She’d torn the corset out. The dress was much more… sensuous,” Galliano said in the docuseries.
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According to The Daily Mail, when Princess Diana attended the Met Gala in December 9, 1996, it was four months after her divorce with Prince Charles and eight months before her death. Princess Diana’s Paris holiday with the 42-year-old son of Harrods mogul Mohamed Al-Fayed ended with her death in a fatal crash on August 31, 1997, when their Mercedes struck a pillar in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel.
Former Vogue senior accessories director Filipa Fino told the Daily Mail that Princess Diana’s absence from future editions of the Met Gala became an important turning point for Anna Wintour.
She explained that this “seed” of never being able to host Diana in person helped shape Wintour’s long-term vision for the event.
“The princess died and it never happened and Anna had no way of getting redemption,” Fino told The Times.
