• Princess Diana made her solely Met Gala look in 1996, shortly after divorcing Prince Charles.
• She wore a lingerie-inspired silk slip gown designed by John Galliano. 
• Diana reportedly was frightened that the gown would embarrass Prince William, who was 14 on the time.

Style’s largest evening is right here, which suggests it is the right time to dive into the Met Gala archives.

As celebrities put together for Monday’s theme celebrating “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Magnificence,” we wished to look again on one of many solely Met Gala appearances made by a British royal. 

Princess Diana made a splash at her one and solely Met Gala in 1996. 

Diana’s debut got here shortly after she finalized her divorce from Prince Charles in August 1996, a narrative that made headlines across the globe. 

However Princess Diana wasn’t afraid to go daring as she arrived on the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork in New York Metropolis on December 9, 1996. 

The yr’s theme paid tribute to Christian Dior, so Diana opted for a gown designed by John Galliano, who had simply develop into head designer of the legendary French style home.

Diana wore a lingerie-inspired silk navy-blue slip gown with black lace and paired the ensemble with an identical silk gown.

She accessorized the outfit with sapphire earrings and a sapphire choker necklace that matched her engagement ring. 

Eloise Moran, creator of “The Girl Di Look E-book: What Diana Was Attempting To Inform Us By way of Her Garments,” advised Yahoo! that Diana’s Met Gala ensemble was positively a “revenge” look following her divorce from Prince Charles. 

“That was one in every of her most stunning clothes,” Moran advised the positioning. “However I assumed she seemed fabulous. She simply seems so joyful and assured.” 

“I believe she was embracing it and having fun with it,” Moran added. “She knew she might by no means do away with the eye and the highlight on her, however I believe she was positioning it otherwise, as a sort of worldwide megastar, Marilyn Monroe-type icon fairly than a member of the royal household. And I believe the gown actually mirrored that.”

Royal biographer Katie Nicholl, who wrote “William and Harry,” revealed that Diana did have some reservations in regards to the daring gown — worrying that it’d embarrass 14-year-old William. 

However the robe is now a part of style historical past, even occurring show on the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.