Diana Ripped Out Corset at Princess Diana 1996 Met Gala

Princess Diana’s only princess diana 1996 met gala appearance came in a navy slip dress by John Galliano for Dior. Four months after her divorce from King Charles, she chose a look that matched her sapphire jewelry and then changed it before she arrived.

John Galliano and the dress

John Galliano said Diana ripped the corset out of the dress before the event because she did not want to wear it. He recalled, “I couldn't believe it. She'd ripped the corset out. She didn't want to wear the corset. She felt so liberated. She'd torn the corset out. The dress was much more sensuous.”

The detail is small, but it turns the outfit into a piece of design history rather than a borrowed gala look. Galliano’s gown was still there; the rigid structure was not. Diana used the dress on her own terms, and that is the part fashion people still talk about.

Elizabeth Tilberis with Diana

Diana attended with Harper's Bazaar editor Elizabeth Tilberis, not with Anna Wintour. Filipa Fino said that choice spurred Wintour and that Wintour believed she should have been the one to accompany Diana to the ball.

Wintour has led the Met Gala since 1995, and Diana’s 1996 appearance landed early in that era. The combination of a royal guest, a fashion house name, and a direct personal slight helps explain why the event’s guest list became part of the show itself.

Wintour's royal fixation

By 2019, Wintour was still talking in royal terms. She said on Today, “I would love to have the Duchess of Sussex and Duchess of Cambridge together,” and added, “They could leave their husbands at home; it's the two of them I want.”

That line reads less like a wish list than a booking strategy. Diana’s lone Met Gala turn helped make royalty feel like a draw, and the event has been built around that kind of attention ever since.