Princess Diana's 'revenge dress' goes up for auction
Auction house Sotheby's expects the dress to sell for up to $300,000 (£220,000) when it goes under the hammer on 9 December.
Princess Diana's 'revenge dress' goes up for auction
A dress Princess Diana wore to a London party just hours after a documentary aired in which the then-Prince Charles admitted to adultery during their marriage is set to be auctioned.
Her striking entrance at the Serpentine Gallery in 1994, wearing a custom-made black silk evening dress by designer Christina Stambolian, became an iconic pop-culture moment.
The press gave her outfit the nickname "revenge dress".
Sotheby's says it expects the dress to fetch as much as $300,000 (£220,000) when it is sold on 9 December.
In a press release, Sotheby's said this is the first time the dress has been put up for auction since 1997, when the late princess sold 79 of her dresses to raise money for charities.
Morgane Halimi, Sotheby's Global Head of Handbags and Fashion, said in a statement that Princess Diana "understood instinctively" that fashion can be a language in its own right.
"On her own terms, Princess Diana turned the dress into one of the most powerful messages she ever made, during one of the most scrutinised and emotionally charged episodes of her life," Halimi said.
"She walked into a moment in which so much of her story was being told for her and, through what she chose to wear, reclaimed the narrative for herself."
According to Sotheby's, Anna Harvey, her stylist at the time, said Diana "wanted to look a million dollars".
For the fundraising dinner, the princess made a last-minute change of outfit and selected the strapless evening dress by Greek designer Christina Stambolian, which she paired with a royal jewel, a black clutch and black pumps.
The vintage Jaguar XJ40 car Diana used to arrive at the event was sold at auction earlier this year for £66,250.
The revenge dress is expected to bring in a much higher price.
If it does, it will not be the first time something from the princess's wardrobe has sold for a large sum.
Princess Diana's sweater, featuring a black sheep among rows of white ones, sold for £920,000 at a Sotheby's auction in New York in 2023.