The designer, who dressed the late Princess of Wales for her one and only Met appearance, spoke about her Dior look in the new series ‘In Vogue: The 90s’

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Janine Henni

Janine Henni

Janine Henni is a Royals Staff Writer for PEOPLE Digital, covering modern monarchies and the world’s most famous families. Like Queen Elizabeth, she loves horses and a great tiara moment.

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Published on September 18, 2024 01:13PM EDT

Princess Diana at the Met Gala in New York City in December 1996. Photo: Anwar Hussein/Getty

Princess Diana had a specific vision for her Met Gala dress in 1996.

In the new Hulu docuseries In Vogue: The 90s, fashion designer John Galliano spoke about the parameters that the late Princess of Wales had when it came time to design her dress for what would become her one and only Met appearance. Galliano was then creative director at Dior and spoke about the magic of being tapped to create a bespoke look for the princess.

“I remember one day we all jumped into this old van, and we went to London, where we met Princess Diana. She’d been invited to the Met, and she would wear one of my dresses,” Galliano said in the first volume of the documentary, which premiered on Sept. 13.

Former British Vogue editor Edward Enninful described the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual benefit as the “most influential red carpet in the world,” raising the stakes for Princess Diana’s fashion statement at the party. Diana made her debut at the Met Gala in New York City in December 1996 with her friend and former Harper’s Bazaar editor Liz Tilberis, and Princess Diana attended just a few months after her divorce was finalized from the future King Charles.

Princess Diana at the Met Gala in New York City in December 1996. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
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“It was like a blessing. I mean like, wow,” Galliano said in the series. “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.”

“So we did the dress and subsequent fittings, and it was beautifully done,” he said of the “correct” construction. “Fast-forward to the event, and I just remember her getting out of the car,” Galliano said — and gasped. “I couldn’t believe it. She’d ripped the corset out.”

“She didn’t want to wear the corset,” he said about the fashion-forward move, in true Diana style. “She felt so liberated. She’d torn the corset out. The dress was much more… sensuous,” he emphasized, recalling her electric ascent up the Met steps.

(From left) John Galliano, Liz Tilberis, Princess Diana, Helene Arnault and Bernard Arnault at the Met Gala in New York City in December 1996.Stephane Cardinale/Sygma via Getty

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“I mean, wow! Diana was my first couture client,” Galliano said.

The British designer was one of couture’s most influential visionaries through the 1990s and early 2000s, before he upended his career in 2011 following a string of antisemitic and racist incidents. He was fired from Dior as creative director, stepped back from fashion and returned to design for Maison Margiela, holding the post since 2014.

Much has been made of Princess Diana’s fashion splash at the Met Gala in 1996, where she wore a boudoir-like navy silk slip dress with black lace trim from Galliano’s debut couture collection as the creative director of Dior. She completed the look with a matching silk robe-like topper (which she later removed), a statement pearl-and-sapphire choker necklace and the mini navy quilted Dior bag that the label renamed the Lady Dior in her honor.

The late Princess of Wales was known as Lady Diana Spencer before she married the future King in 1981, and the handheld bag became one of her go-to purses.

Princess Diana at the Met Gala in New York City in December 1996.Richard Corkery/NY Daily News via Getty Images

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During the 1990s, Diana began to experiment more with her style, sporting shorter hemlines and sexier silhouettes. The 1996 Met Gala would ultimately prove to be her only appearance at the event, as she died following a car crash in Paris in August 1997. The late Princess of Wales is remembered as a style icon, and her daughters-in-law Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle continue to take style cues from her today.

“I think all of us were so captivated and fascinated by Princess Diana,” Vogue editor Anna Wintour said in the new docuseries. “At that time, she was the most famous woman in the world. She was enjoying fashion and the spotlight that she put on particularly British designers.”

In Vogue: The ’90s Volume I debuted on Hulu on Sept. 13, and Volume II premieres on Sept. 20.