Dress Diana feared William would think was too sexy

DIANA wowed New York in 1996 by walking into the fashion industry’s big annual bash, the Met Ball, wearing a bespoke navy blue slip- dress, the first evening gown John Galliano made as newly appointed creative director of Christian Dior.

She’d been a bit iffy about the cut of the dress, whispering to Liz Tilberis, editor of Harper’s Bazaar, that she didn’t think Prince William would like it being so bare — and it certainly caused a stir. ‘The beenthere, done-that New York fashion crowd stopped dead in their tracks,’ wrote Tilberis — words she dictated to me for her editor’s letter when I was her fashion features director.

It was the last time I saw Diana in the flesh — and the logical conclusion of a style journey that began in old- school Chelsea and ended on the world stage among fashion’s elite.