On the evening of June 29, 1994, Britain had two royal images to choose from. On ITV, Prince Charles told a journalist that he had been unfaithful in his marriage. Across London, his estranged wife, Princess Diana, stepped out at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens for a Vanity Fair fundraising dinner, wearing a black, off-the-shoulder silk dress that would be on the front page of nearly every newspaper the next morning. History made its choice. The gown has been known ever since as the “revenge dress.”
© WireImageNearly three decades after Diana's died in a Paris car crash, the most photographed woman in history still commands the spotlight, and her belongings keep resurfacing. Now the most famous of them all is going back on the block.
According to Radar Online, one of the people watching most closely is her son, Prince Harry. “He doesn’t want it disappearing into a collector’s closet,” a source said. They added that Harry "believes" the dress “should stay connected to Diana.” They also claim Harry wants to give the dress to his wife, Meghan Markle.
“Harry sees that dress as a symbol of his mother taking back her power,” continued the source.
“Diana wore it to clap back at Charles, Camilla and an institution that had made her miserable. In Harry’s mind, Meghan understands that story better than almost anyone.”
© WireImageThe revenge dress' expected cost
The claim rests on a single anonymous source, and there’s no confirmation. But anyone hoping to outbid Harry had better come prepared. As reported, Sotheby’s will offer the dress on December 9 in New York as part of its Luxury Week fashion sale, with a pre-sale estimating its cost to range between $150,000 and $300,000.
Before then, the gown is making a world tour of the auction house’s salesrooms, from London to Hong Kong and Geneva, before landing in New York for public viewing from December 2 to 8.
It’s the first time the dress has been offered at auction since 1997, when Diana herself sold 79 pieces from her closet at Christie’s in New York to raise money for charity, just two months before her death. Scottish businessman Grahame Mackenzie and his wife, Briege, bought it then and later used it for their own fundraiser.
© Anadolu via Getty ImagesThe new sale keeps that spirit alive: a portion of the proceeds will go to NHS Lothian Charity on behalf of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, supporting patients and families affected by mental health conditions. The winning bidder will take home a numbered copy of the original 1997 catalogue, signed by Diana and the dress’s designer, Christina Stambolian.
The story of the gown begins well before Diana's famous night. She bought it around 1991 but never wore it, reportedly thinking it was too provocative for a princess. With its bare shoulders, above-the-knee asymmetric hem and body-skimming silhouette, the dress broke every rule of royal dressing, starting with its color — black was a shade the royals were expected to reserve for mourning.
Diana wore it flawlessly. She paired it with a pearl-and-sapphire choker, her Collingwood pearl earrings, a diamond-and-sapphire bracelet, a Salvatore Ferragamo clutch, and Manolo Blahnik heels. The finishing touch was a scarlet manicure, one more quiet break with palace protocol.
The next morning, the photos told a story no royal documentary could ever compete with: a happy woman, looking absolutely radiant.
© Tim Graham
