Editor’s Note: Delving into the archives of pop culture history, “Remember When?” is a CNN Style series offering a nostalgic look at the celebrity outfits that defined their eras.
CNN
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She was the most influential style icon of the 1990s. And the Met Gala was, as it is today, fashion’s biggest night out. So, while it may come as a surprise that Princess Diana only attended the annual fundraiser once, in 1996, it’s little wonder she was the center of attention.
Then the Princess of Wales, she arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art just hours after reaching New York City by Concorde. Cameras and commotion had accompanied her every move since divorcing Britain’s then-heir, Prince Charles, less than four months earlier. And as she ascended the Met’s iconic steps with her friend (and the evening’s chair), Harper’s Bazaar editor Liz Tilberis, it was clear Diana intended to embrace the attention.
This was evident not only in her choice of gown — a daring, negligee-inspired navy slip dress with a black lace trim — but also in her decision to secretly alter the garment into something far more risqué than its designer had intended.
The outfit was the work of John Galliano, who had recently left Givenchy to take the helm at Dior. That year’s Met Gala theme (and accompanying exhibition) centered on the French label’s founder, Christian Dior. And Galliano’s first couture assignment was to dress the event’s best-known attendee. He visited London’s Kensington Palace ahead of the gala to share drawings and discuss ideas with the princess.
Recounting the experience in last year’s Hulu documentary series “In Vogue: The 90s,” the British designer said he lobbied Diana to wear pink but “she was not having it.” The princess had it her own way — and then some: After receiving the finished gown, she drastically modified it without Galliano’s knowledge.
“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,” the designer revealed in the documentary. “She didn’t want to wear the corset.”
Escaping royal dress codes
Royal biographer Katie Nicholl has claimed that Diana worried the racy outfit might embarrass her then-14-year-old son, Prince William. But the look appeared to be well received by the press and other attendees.
“She just makes it a little more glamorous, a little more beautiful, because she is both,” broadcaster Barbara Walters told tabloid TV show “Hard Copy,” whose segment gushed that Diana was “a work of art.” Later that week, a New York Times opinion piece said the princess had “demonstrated the restorative powers of celebrity.”
Moreover, the look signaled that Diana was no longer constrained by a royal dress code — one that would have, surely, dictated a ballgown (or at least a far less revealing floor-length evening gown) for an event like the Met Gala. “She felt so liberated,” Galliano said in the 2024 documentary, describing the altered outfit as “much more sensuous” than his initial design.
Diana’s jewelry choice also communicated reclaimed agency. She wore her sapphire engagement ring — on the ring finger of her left hand, no less. In this new context, however, the ring became a symbol of independence. It had been her mother’s, and her decision to continue wearing the jewel re-established it as a family heirloom, not the vestige of a doomed marriage. The ring was later used by William when he proposed to Kate Middleton in 2010.
The statement sapphire-and-pearl choker Diana took to the Met was, meanwhile, the same one she’d sported with both her “revenge dress” (the low-cut satin gown worn after Charles’ infidelity came to light) and her “Travolta dress” (the off-the-shoulder number she’d danced with John Travolta in, 10 years earlier).
Then there was Diana’s bag, which spoke to her status as a fashion icon. It was a mini version of one she had received as a gift from France’s then-first lady, Bernadette Chirac, the year prior. Designed by Galliano’s predecessor at Dior, Gianfranco Ferré, and unofficially known as the Chouchou — “favorite” in French — the original bag accompanied Diana to numerous public events. Her patronage proved so influential that in 1996 Dior renamed it The Lady Dior in her honor.
Eye-catching, on-theme and full of symbolism — it was, in many ways, the perfect Met Gala look. And as fashion’s A-list prepares to follow, quite literally, in the princess’ footsteps at the 2025 fundraiser on Monday, it is worth remembering: Few arrivals on the museum’s staircase have generated quite as much excitement as Diana’s.