According to CNN, the evening gown by Greek designer Christina Stambolian will be exhibited in London this month, before travelling to Hong Kong and Geneva. It is expected to be auctioned in New York on 9 December for up to $300,000.
The story behind the scandalous appearance
The date of Diana’s public appearance has gone down in fashion history. On 29 June 1994, her husband – then Prince of Wales, now King Charles III – publicly admitted to infidelity in an ITN documentary. The news had been leaked to the press in advance, and the scandalous programme was watched by 13 million television viewers across the UK.
Following this, Princess Diana appeared at a charity event at London’s Serpentine Gallery in an outfit that was instantly dubbed the ‘revenge dress’.
“Fashion can become a language when words are insufficient or powerless. Princess Diana understood this intuitively,” noted Morgan Halimi, head of handbags and fashion at Sotheby’s.
At the time, the colour black was associated within the royal family, particularly with periods of mourning, whilst the cut of the dress was considered exceptionally bold by royal protocol. Diana had bought the dress three years earlier but had not worn it because she considered it ‘too bold’.
The dress’s legacy
Over the years, this outfit has become a pop-culture icon and has been reimagined in fashion collections, on social media and in television productions.
The ‘revenge dress’ was first sold at auction in June 1997, when Diana herself put 79 of her outfits up for auction to raise funds for charities fighting breast cancer and AIDS. Since then, the dress has been in the possession of a private owner who purchased it at that historic sale.
Along with the dress, a rare copy of the 1997 catalogue, autographed by Princess Diana and designer Christina Stambolyan, will be put up for auction in December.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale will be donated to the NHS Lothian Charity to support healthcare services.
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