Diana's 'Revenge Dress' Goes on Display Ahead of Sotheby's Auction

A black silk dress worn by Princess Diana on the evening her estranged husband publicly admitted to infidelity has gone on public display at Sotheby's in London, ahead of an international tour and a December auction in New York.

Diana wore the figure-hugging, off-the-shoulder gown by Greek designer Christina Stambolian to a gala at London's Serpentine Gallery on June 29, 1994 — the same night a television interview aired in which the then-Prince Charles acknowledged his affair. The princess, who was aware the revelation was coming, chose the dress for the occasion.

Morgane Halimi, Sotheby's global head of handbags and fashion, described the garment as a "beautiful and powerful outfit" through which Diana seized control of her own narrative. Fashion, Halimi said, had always been a means of expression for the princess, but on this occasion it became a way of communicating who she was. The message, in Halimi's reading, was one of reclaiming her story and standing for herself.

Photographs of Diana in the dress — paired with a sapphire necklace, black pumps and bright red nail polish — circulated worldwide, and a British tabloid declared on its front page the next day that revenge was chic. The following year, Diana gave an interview in which she acknowledged her own extramarital affair and spoke of there being three people in her marriage, a reference to Charles's relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles, now Queen Camilla. The couple divorced in 1996, a year before Diana died in a car crash in Paris at the age of 36.

The dress is being auctioned for the first time since 1997, when Diana sold it along with other garments to raise money for AIDS charities. Its presale estimate stands at $150,000 to $300,000, though Sotheby's experts say it could fetch considerably more. A red sweater decorated with sheep that Diana wore to a polo match in 1981 sold in 2023 for $1.1 million, far above its estimate and a record for an item owned by the late royal.

Halimi called the dress the most powerful item linked to Diana, adding that while her provenance consistently draws collectors, the story behind this particular piece and its universal message are likely to attract institutions as well as private buyers seeking one-of-a-kind pieces.

During her lifetime Diana was a style icon and among the most photographed women in the world. Interest in her and in the collapse of her marriage to the present King Charles III has endured, with a new book by her brother Charles Spencer drawing fresh headlines and reviving a public dispute between the Spencer family and the royal household over how the princess was treated.

The dress remains on view in London until Sept. 24 and will travel to Hong Kong and Geneva before its sale in New York on Dec. 9.