The “annus horribilis” of Elizabeth II was already a thing of the past, but in 1994 the royal family was still caught in the crossfire of the Princes of Wales in a story that, as we know, had little to do with enchantment. On the night of June 29, many Britons stayed at home to watch an interview with the heir to the throne on television, but his wife, on the contrary, decided to go out. Knowing that her husband would confess to her subjects that he had cheated on her, Diana took what was probably her most daring dress to date out of the closet and headed to a party. The rest is History and fashion history, because the moment was so shocking that the creation of the Greek designer Christina Stambolian gained its own name and became an icon. The “revenge dress” had its moment of fame 30 years ago, but it is still causing a sensation and has a story to tell.

June 29, (another) seismic day for the royal house

To celebrate his 25th anniversary as heir to the throne, and also to improve his image among his subjects, Prince Charles decided to star in the documentary “Charles: The Private Man, The Public Role.” The program featured an interview with the Prince of Wales by journalist Jonathan Dimbleby filmed in the drawing room of his private residence, Highgrove, and broadcast on June 29, 1994. There was space to show the prince’s philanthropic and diplomatic work, but most of it would deal with the topic of the moment: his marriage to Diana and Charles was directly questioned about his fidelity to his wife and he would later confess to adultery.

“Until the marriage was ruined beyond recovery, we both tried,” quotes Tina Brown in her biography of the Princess of Wales, “Diana, a life” (Oceanos, 2007). The interviewer asked him if it was his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles that caused the end of the marriage and the prince gave a long and incoherent answer that, despite not explicitly answering the question, left no doubt. “The overwhelmingly negative public reaction was based not on the adultery itself, but on the prince’s foolish naivety in admitting it,” Tina Brown writes in the book. “Which is a good indicator of how the moral climate in Britain had changed since the abdication,” the author adds.

The famous sheep sweater worn by Diana in 1981 is up for auction and has a story to tell

On the day the documentary was broadcast, the then Prince of Wales had an aviation incident when he was piloting a plane that went off the runway and ended up in a swamp. It happened when Charles was attempting to land on the island of Islay as part of a five-day official trip to Scotland.

Prince Charles and Diana’s divorce would not be finalised until August 1996, but the couple’s separation was announced on 9 December 1992 by the then Prime Minister, John Major, in the British parliament. A year later, in December 1993, the Princess of Wales took advantage of a speech she gave at a charity lunch at the Hilton Hotel in London to announce that at the end of the year she would “reduce the scope of the public life” she had led until then. She said that in the coming months she hoped to find a balance between her “public role” with “a more private life”. She also added that in the years she was exposed, the attention of the press “will affect both her public duties” and her “personal life in a way that is difficult to bear”.

But a withdrawal did not in any way diminish interest in Diana, on the contrary. Tina Brown says that since Diana formally retired from public life, the price of a photograph of her has increased by 25%. “A set of photographs of her shopping could be worth up to £2,000. “Diana in a bathing suit was worth ten thousand pounds, just in royalties in the United Kingdom,” writes the author, adding that “in the nineties, a photo of Diana on the cover of a magazine guaranteed an increase in sales of at least minus 10 percent.”

The “revenge dress”

The night Charles’s interview was broadcast and the prince confessed to adultery before the nation, Diana attended Vanity Fair’s annual fundraising party at the Serpentine Gallery in the middle of London’s Kensington Gardens. Tina Brown writes in her biography of Diana that the Princess of Wales had declined the invitation until two days before the event, but in the meantime not only did the announcements of her husband’s programme begin, but so did the rumours of adultery. One of the gala’s organisers then received a phone call, the author says. “I said I’d always wanted to go after all,” the organiser says, and asked Diana: “What are you doing?” She replied: “You’ll see.” But she realised what it was about when she linked the date of the event with the date of the interview, Brown explains in the book.

Diana arrived triumphant, like a star. She got out of the car smiling, wearing a short black dress and her pearl and sapphire choker. Tina Brown says she initially called it “the fuck you dress,” but in reality she goes down in fashion history as the “revenge dress.”

Diana, Princess of Wales arriving at the Serpentine Gallery. She was greeted by Lord Peter Palumbo © Getty Images

The black dress had a sweetheart neckline, a hemline above the knee and a sheer black sash around the waist and flowed down both sides. It was created by Christina Stambolian, a previously unknown Greek fashion designer. Diana wore sheer black tights and black Manolo Blahnik shoes.

The Princess of Wales wore the pearl and sapphire choker she loved so much, as evidenced by the many times we have seen her wear it over the years. The piece is made up of a brooch with a large sapphire, which was the wedding gift from the Queen Mother when she married Prince Charles in 1981. It was Diana who decided to turn the brooch into a necklace and seven rows of pearls to wrap around her neck. All the accessories were black, as were the clutch and shoes. This made the manicure with red nail polish, which was very rare to wear, stand out even more.

In fact, the dress was purchased in September 1991. Diana went to Christina Stambolian’s store after having lunch with her brother and, in addition to purchasing a few pieces, she placed an order with the Greek designer. “I want a special dress for a special occasion. It doesn’t matter if it is short or long. It has to be something special,” says Claudia Joseph, author of the book “Diana: A Life in Dresses” (ACC Art Books). “We sat down and I made some drawings on paper,” the designer was quoted as saying in the Daily Mail. He says Diana found the dress a little “risky” and wanted it to cover more of her body, but the princess was convinced to go ahead with it. design.

Streetwear, tricorns and the revenge dress. Diana, 40 years of a style icon

They then discussed the colour. Diana would have wanted beige and the designer preferred black. Two seamstresses then made the dress by hand; it took them 60 hours to make the creation a reality. But the piece would remain in the royal wardrobe for three years waiting for its moment. The Greek-born designer thought she would never see it in public. For the Serpentine Gallery party, Diana planned to wear a Valentino creation and the information reached the press sooner than expected, writes Hola that through the designer himself, the Princess of Wales changed her plans and went to rescue Christina Stambolian.

After stepping away from the royal family and the heavy protocol of appearances, Diana’s fashion choices took on a new dimension and her wardrobe began to include shorter skirts, more daring dresses and even black, which is a color that royalty reserves for mourning.

“She wanted to look like she was worth a million dollars. And she did,” said Anna Harvey, a British Vogue consultant who helped Diana with her fashion choices in her early years as a princess, in the 2013 documentary “Princess Diana’s Dresses: The Auction.”

“The photographers, grouped in three tight rows, went wild as Diana deftly stopped in front of each of them on the Vanity Fair red carpet,” describes Tina Brown. On the morning of June 30, the front pages of British newspapers were all about Diana. It is difficult to predict what would have happened if social media and constantly updated websites existed.

The dress that even had a role in the series “The Crown”

Netflix’s “The Crown,” which tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign over six seasons, did not miss this historic moment. The day Prince Charles’ interview was broadcast on television and Diana, Princess of Wales, went to a party and the mythical “revenge dress” was born is depicted in episode five of season 5, entitled “The Way Forward.” You can watch the dress moment in the short video below, shared on YouTube.

“When the people in my life knew I was going to be playing this role, they all messaged me about this dress and that’s when I started to realize how symbolic this dress is to people,” Elizabeth Debicki, the actress who plays Diana in seasons 5 and 6.

In fact, the famous dress was recreated for the series. It would become one of the lots in “The Crown Auction”, with varied content from the series held by the auction house Bonham’s in February 2024. The dress, accompanied by a clutch and a pair of shoes, sold for 12,800 pounds (approximately 15,130 euros).

A story where many people want to participate

Even Diana’s butler, Paul Burrell, is said to have had a role in this episode. In the British Channel 5 documentary “Secrets of the Royal Dressmakers,” he said that he was the one who chose the princess’s dress that day.

In June 1997, Christie’s auctioned 79 of Diana’s dresses. They were chosen by herself after Prince William gave her the idea. The auction was quite an event: it gave rise to two presentation and exhibition events of the pieces, one in London and the other in New York, both with the presence of the Princess of Wales. The funds went to Diana’s causes, the Royal Marsden Hospital Cancer Fund and the AIDS Crisis Trust.

Among the lots up for auction was the “revenge dress.” It was purchased by a Scottish couple, Graeme and Briege Mackenzi, owners of a Body Shop franchise in Scotland. The cost of the dress varies. Hello says it was bought for more than 39 thousand pounds (currently, more than 46 thousand euros), but the Daily Mail writes that it was for 44,511 (more than 52 thousand euros). The buyers intended to use it to raise funds for solidarity and even met the princess at the auction. After Diana’s death, they stored the dress in a bank vault because they thought it would be right not to wear it again. The dress still belongs to the Mackenzis, but has not been seen for years. Christina Satmbolian would later make a replica of the dress in Diana’s size that was auctioned in 2011 and is on display at the Museum of Style Icons, in County Kildare, Ireland.

After the day in 1991 when Diana walked into Christina Stambolian’s shop, the designer would only see her client again at one of Christie’s events. “By the way, it was hard to put on the little black dress,” Diana whispered to her. No one would say so.