Princess Diana attends the Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in December 1996.Credit : Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty

NEED TO KNOW

Princess Diana attended the Met Gala just once
The December 1996 event was held just a few months after her divorce from Prince Charles was finalized
Diana was dressed by John Galliano, who recalled that, on the way to the event, the headline-making princess shocked him by tearing the corset out of her gown

Princess Diana was a fashion icon during her lifetime, but interestingly, she only attended the Met Gala once in her lifetime.

The Princess of Wales was on the guest list for the 1996 Costume Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the annual event that has evolved into the spectacle known simply as the Met Gala. At the time, it was still the “most influential red carpet in the world,” according to former British Vogue editor Edward Enninful, raising the stakes for Diana’s fashion statement.

She came with fashion designer John Galliano, who looked back on the process of creating her dress for the event in the Hulu docuseries In Vogue: The 90s.

“It was like a blessing. I mean like, wow,” Galliano recalled. “We went to Kensington Palace and discussed drawings. I was trying to push for pink, but she was not having it. ‘No, not the pink!’ That was real, real fun.”

The 1996 Gala was held in December — the “first Monday in May” tradition did not actually begin until 2005 —meaning Diana was just a few months removed from her divorce from Prince Charles being finalized.

That may have influenced the spontaneous decision that Diana made in the car on the way to the event that let Galliano absolutely stunned.

“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.”

Princess Diana attends Met Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art at Dec. 10, 1996.Patrick McMullan via Getty

The designer recalled gasping at the result.

“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.”

“I mean, wow! Diana was my first couture client,” he added.

The Princess of Wales accessorized her boudoir-inspired design with a matching silk robe-like topper and her famous pearl-and-sapphire choker necklace. And of course she carried the mini quilted Dior bag that label is still known for.

Anna Wintour had taken over the Met Gala just the year prior to Diana’s attendance, and, according to former employees, it was the princess’s attendance that inspired the legendary Vogue head to turn it “from a society dinner to one of the most anticipated events in the fashion calendar.”

“This seed of Anna never being able to host Princess Diana at the Met, and her vision of what it should be like—worthy of a princess—is what drove her from 1996 to today. She took on the Costume Institute Ball as her own personal project,” Filipa Fino, former senior accessories director at Vogue, told the Daily Mail.