It’s heartbreaking to contemplate: What could have been had Princess Diana survived the car crash that tragically took her life in August 1997 at the age of 36. We’ll never know, but we did get a glimpse into what the late Princess of Wales had planned for September, sartorially speaking, thanks to an exclusive interview with designer Jacques Azagury in Vogue.
The Dress the Princess of Wales Never Got to Wear: Princess Diana’s ‘Final Goodbye Dress’ Revealed
The ‘Revenge Dress’ had nothing on this
Published May 29, 2025
•7:25pm
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According to Azagury, he was putting the finishing touches on a dress that the late Princess of Wales was set to wear in September 1997 to a Disney film premiere when he got word that she had passed away. And here’s the kicker: It was set to be the “most risqué” of the boundary-pushing designs Azagury had made for Diana. (Per the piece, he worked with the princess as she entered her divorce era to create what would become the “Famous Five,” a nod to five different styles made by the designer for occasions ranging from a night at the ballet to her 36th birthday.)
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It’s a major reveal since Azagury has previously never spoken about the sixth dress that was in the works when Diana lost her life, mainly due to the fact that it was too raw of a subject for him to discuss. “I just feel it was very personal to me,” he tells Vogue. The designer first met Diana in 1987 following an introduction by then-British Vogue editor Anna Harvey and the pair stayed close throughout her royal life, according to the Princess Diana Museum. In total, the designer created close to 20 looks for the Princess of Wales, but the Famous Five were the ones he felt most achieved the “look he wanted for her.”
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As for the sixth? It was set to be even more showstopping. Dubbed the Final Goodbye Dress, it was black (which Azagury tells Vogue was Diana’s favorite hue) and pure silk georgette with hand-beading all over, not to mention a plunging neckline and high front slit. The third and final fitting took place just a week before her death. “It was really stunning on her...This was going to be the dress that sort of outed all the other dresses. And she looked absolutely amazing,” the designer shares. (You can peek pictures of the dress here.)
In the interview—which is worth reading in full—Azagury adds that throughout their work in 1997 on what would become his final collaboration with the late Princess of Wales, she was “the best and happiest I had ever seen her.”
We repeat: It’s near impossible to imagine what could have been.
