Shortly after her divorce from then-Prince Charles, 75, Diana decided to make a bold statement by wearing a navy blue silk slip dress with a black lace accent designed by John Galliano , 63, as part of his debut couture collection for Dior.
Though Galliano originally designed a corset for the outfit, the late princess made a fearless choice.
"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," Galliano said in the new Hulu docuseries In Vogue: The 90s about the moment he realized Diana had chosen to forgo the structured piece. "She didn’t want to wear the corset."
"She felt so liberated. The dress was much more... sensuous," the designer continued, referring to the lingerie-inspired gown that Diana wore with pearl and sapphire jewelry.
Since Diana was known for always defying convention and her trendsetting style, Galliano recalled how "the people's princess" turned down his idea for the dress during the fitting.
"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 former creative director of Dior said.
The British fashion designer expressed how stunned he was at that time.
"It was like a blessing. I mean like, wow," he gushed. "I mean, wow! Diana was my first couture client."
Princess Diana was no stranger to making headlines with her fierce fashion choices. In 1994, two years before her Met Gala debut, she made made waves by wearing the now-iconic "Revenge Dress" at a Vanity Fair party. This appearance coincided with Charles' attempt to pick up his shattered public image after their highly publicized separation .
The dress, designed by Christina Stambolian , was a striking off-the-shoulder black silk number that Diana had kept for three years before wearing because she found it "too daring," but she decided to break the norm that night.
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“Her style was so very much her own,” said Jack Carlson , founder and creative director of Rowing Blazers.
“She was not a follower. To the contrary, she did her own thing, and we all watched in wonder and tried to keep up,” Carlson added, noting how his clothing line draws inspiration from the princess’s unique fashion sense.
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