Princess Diana's Blue Cannes Gown Isn't the Only French Girl Dress She Wore to the Film Festival 38 Years Ago
It's pure '80s glam—and right on trend for 2025.
The Cannes Film Festival is here once again, with everyone from Bella Hadid to Eva Longoria walking the red carpet in their glitziest gowns. While naked dressing wasn't a thing at the 1987 festival, making a fashion statement certainly was—and Princess Diana brought out all the stops for her one and only appearance at the event. Her baby blue Catherine Walker gown might be the look everyone remembers when they think of Diana in Cannes, but there's a second, largely forgotten outfit the princess wore in the South of France. And exactly 38 years later, her bubble skirt is once again right back on trend.
Princess Diana turned to her favorite designer, Catherine Walker, for her May 15, 1987 appearance at the Cannes Film Festival with Prince Charles, wearing an icy blue gown that was inspired by another famous royal, Grace Kelly. The strapless dress with a gathered, criss-cross waist featured a matching chiffon scarf that trailed along the red carpet as the couple attended the premiere of The Whales of August.
Princess Diana and Prince Charles attended the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.
Diana wore an icy blue Catherine Walker gown.
The dress became one of Diana's most iconic looks and went up for auction in 1997, but it wasn't the only Catherine Walker outfit she wore 38 years ago. Earlier in the day, the princess attended the festival in a navy and white striped dress with a fabulously '80s puffball skirt, pairing the nautical style with a double-breasted, longline white blazer.
Like her pale blue gown—which was reminiscent of a dress Grace Kelly wore in To Catch a Thief, a movie she filmed in the area—the outfit was inspired by the sophisticated styles of the South of France. She added classic gold jewelry and a pair of white pumps with contrasting navy toes and heels, a look her daughter-in-law Princess Kate would go on to wear decades later.
Princess Diana also wore a striped Catherine Walker dress with a white blazer in Cannes.
She embraced nautical style in her navy and white outfit.
Princess Diana isn't the only royal to have attended the Cannes Film Festival. Princess Beatrice, Sarah Ferguson, Princess Charlene, Prince Albert, Queen Rania and Princess Stéphanie and Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg have all traveled to Cannes over the years. And of course, Grace Kelly met her future husband, Prince Ranier of Monaco, at the starry event.
Perhaps one day Princess Kate will support the British Film industry in Cannes and deliver her own history-making red carpet moment.
