Revenge dress
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Designer | Christina Stambolian |
|---|---|
| Year | 1994 |
| Type | Black off-the-shoulder evening gown |
| Material | Silk |
The "revenge dress" is an evening gown worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, to a 1994 dinner at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens. The garment has been interpreted as having been worn by Diana "in revenge" for the televised admission of adultery by her husband Charles, then Prince of Wales.
The dress, an off-the-shoulder black silk evening gown, was designed by Christina Stambolian.[1] Stambolian compared Diana's choice of black to the black swan Odile in Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake, saying that Diana "chose not to play the scene like Odette, innocent in white. She played it like Odile. She was clearly angry."[2] Diana had owned the dress for three years before she wore it, fearing it was "too daring".[3] The dress cost £900 (equivalent to £2,400 in 2023).[4] Diana had planned to wear a dress by Valentino before choosing Stambolian's design. Anna Harvey, Diana's former stylist, said that Diana "wanted to look a million dollars [...] and she did".[3]
History
| External image | |
|---|---|
 Princess Diana wearing the revenge dress, 1994 |
Diana wore the dress to a 29 June 1994 fundraising dinner hosted by Vanity Fair magazine for the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens.[2] Diana had declined the dinner invitation; however, two days prior to the dinner, following several days' publicity of Charles's infidelity revelations, she accepted the invitation.[2] A television programme about her husband Prince Charles was broadcast, in which he admitted to having been unfaithful to her after their marriage had "irretrievably broken down". Charles and Diana had separated two years prior to the broadcast of the programme.[5][6] Diana's biographer Sarah Bradford wrote that Diana "feigned indifference" in regards to the programme.[7]
Diana was seen wearing the dress after she exited her car and was greeted by Lord Palumbo, the chair of the trustees of the Serpentine Gallery, before entering the gallery. The photographer who captured Diana arriving at the event, Tim Graham, said that her arrival lasted only 30 seconds in total, and that Diana would have known a large number of photographers would be present following her husband's revelations.[4] Palumbo later recalled that Diana "bounded out of the car in that wonderfully athletic way that she had".[7]
Following the dinner, the dress was described as the "I'll Show You dress", the "Serpentine Cocktail" and the "Vengeance dress", as well as the "Revenge dress".[8] In her 2007 book The Diana Chronicles, Tina Brown wrote that Diana's dress was known by fashion editors as "her fuck-you dress".[2]
The dress was sold at auction in July 1997 for £39,098 (equivalent to £89,900 in 2023) to a Scottish couple who planned to use it to raise money for children's charities.[9] The dress was exhibited in the Museum of Style in Newbridge, County Kildare, in their 2017 exhibition Diana: A Fashion Legacy, where it was described as "the most important exhibit".[1] Penny Goldstone wrote in Marie Claire in 2020 that the dress remains one of Diana's "most iconic styles of all time".[10]
