In keeping with the evening’s tendency towards spectacle and excess, Lady Tatiana opted to wear a gown by Christian Dior, perhaps the most storied of French designers, for her night out in Paris The then 17-year-old chose a piece that John Galliano had designed for that very season: a blush satin, one-shouldered dress with architectural draping on one hip, that flowed into a floor-skimming skirt scattered with rubies, topaz and rhinestones. Already, the show-stopping look had glamorous form – actress Clare Danes had worn it just months earlier for a Vanity Fair editorial.
Just under a decade later, the same gown has found its way into the spotlight once more. Joining her co-star Cynthia Erivo at the 2025 Governors Awards earlier this month, Wicked: For Good actress and singer Ariana Grande donned the archival Dior piece – in a moment that both honoured fashion history and nodded to Glinda-coded style. Grande kept her accessories to a minimum to allow the pastel creation to shine, pulling her hair back into an elegant up-do.
Ariana Grande wearing the same gown to attend the 16th Governors Awards in Hollywood in November 2025
Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Lady Tatiana Mountbatten was quick to spot that Grande had revived the Galliano haute couture style, taking to Instagram to post a photograph of herself at Le Bal next to an image of Grande on the red carpet, jokingly announcing: ‘Ari borrowed my look.’ Seemingly unable to resist a trip down memory lane, Lady Tatiana went on to post several more photographs of her night in Paris, posing alongside fellow attendees including Aspinall, Dennen and jewellery designer Maria Frering.
With classically aristocratic laissez-faire, Lady Tatiana told Tatler at the time: ‘I’m stuck in the middle of the countryside all term, so it’s great to get to leave school and chill in Paris for a long weekend. And I get to wear couture too. Who cares?’ It was, perhaps, an unexpectedly cool take on one of society’s biggest nights of the year – but then, what would you expect from an haute couture trend setter?