It was one of the most significant statements in the history of fashion – and the royal family.
Nearly 30 years ago, on the night Prince Charles admitted his affair with Camilla, his estranged wife Princess Diana slipped into a little black dress to convey her own powerful, if silent, message.
On June 29, 1994, as the nation listened to presenter Jonathan Dimbleby make his confession, Diana wore the “revenge dress” – as it quickly became known – as she attended a glamorous charity dinner at the Serpentine Gallery.
The princess wowed everyone in her black silk crepe cocktail dress by Christina Stambolian with an asymmetrical ruffled bodice and side sash.
She paired it with her sapphire, pearl and diamond necklace – which matched her engagement ring – and scarlet nails.
But according to Stambolian, Diana almost didn’t buy the £900 dress because she thought it was too daring. She originally wanted it in cream and only wore it that same evening in a fit of annoyance when rival designer Valentino leaked that she would be wearing his dress.
On June 29, 1994, the night Prince Charles admitted his affair with Camilla, his estranged wife Princess Diana slipped into the dress that became known as the “revenge dress.” Designer Christina Stambolian revealed that the royals originally wanted the dress to be cream, but she was convinced it would look better in black.
Diana even wore red nail polish, which she had never done before
The infamous Panorama interview with David Dimbleby in which Charles admitted adultery with his current wife Camilla Parker Bowles
A press report described it as “the showpiece… the bold, wicked, historic little serpentine cocktail dress, possibly the most strategic dress ever worn by a woman in modern times.”
“This was the devastating swipe of black chiffon with which Diana swept her husband off the front pages the morning after his damaging television interview.
“This is a dress that shows Diana, Princess of Wales, in full awareness of her own worth.”
Stambolian, who was born in Greece and educated in Athens, vividly remembers the day Diana walked into her shop in London’s Beauchamp Place after having lunch with her brother Earl Spencer at their favourite restaurant, San Lorenzo.
“Diana bought a short black and red day dress, a yellow silk blouse and a small cream sleeveless blouse, which amounted to about £400,” she previously recalled.
She said Diana told her: “I want a special dress for a special occasion. It doesn’t matter if it’s short or long. It has to be special.”
“We sat down and I drew some sketches on a piece of paper,” Stambolian continued.
“The dress was revealing, quite short and showed quite a lot of leg and skin. Diana wasn’t sure. She thought it was a bit daring. She wanted everything covered up, longer and the neck higher.
“I told her she had beautiful legs and she should show them off. ‘Why not be bold?’ I said. She asked her brother (Charles) and he said, ‘Do what you think is right.'” Finally, she said ‘yes’ to the style and then we moved on to the color.
“I had black in mind, but she wanted cream. For me, Diana was more of a black and white type. I didn’t like her in pale pinks and blues with lots of pearls.”
It took two seamstresses more than 60 hours to create the dress, as the delicately pleated bodice had to be pinned and sewn by hand and the chiffon skirt had to be carefully draped.
For three years, the hand-sewn dress with the flirty hem hung unworn in Diana’s closet and Christina feared that it might never be seen in public.
“I was very disappointed,” she said. “Then I realized she had been waiting for the right opportunity.”
“She had gone to Valentino to buy a dress for this special event. Then Valentino called all the newspapers and said she would come out with my dress tomorrow.
“She heard that and Diana said, ‘There’s no way I’m going to do him a favor. I’m going to wear another dress.'”
Christina designed the dress in the presence of Camilla and originally wanted it in cream
Princess Diana did not meet Christina again until the reception at the Christie’s auction in 1997
Princess Diana wears a light blue dress by Catherine Walker while chatting with the designer of the “Revenge” dress, Christina Stambolian, in 1997.
It took two seamstresses more than 60 hours to make the dress because the pleated bodice had to be pinned and sewn by hand.
A tense Princess Diana in a cream silk dress with Prince Charles during a visit to Paris in 1988
Referring to one of Diana’s favorite ballets, “Swan Lake,” Stambolian added, “I was thrilled to see Diana perform the ballet that night.”
“She chose not to play the scene like Odette, innocent in white.”
“She was clearly angry. She played it like Odile in black. She wore bright red nail polish, which we’d never seen her do before. She said, ‘Let’s be angry tonight.'”
Stambolian did not see Diana again until the reception at the Christie’s auction in June 1997, when Diana auctioned 79 of her most famous evening gowns.
She whispered to Stambolian, “By the way, that little black dress – I had a hard time squeezing into it.”
“She said she had worn it for two years and had gained weight,” the designer explained.
“In fact, she looked a little squashed in the photos. But she had beautiful shoulders and beautiful legs.”
The dress was bought for £44,511 by Scotsman Graeme Mackenzie and his wife Briege, who owned a Body Shop franchise in Scotland.
They planned to exhibit it to raise money for Scottish charities.
After the princess’s death, the couple from Bridge of Wier in Renfrewshire, who had three sons, wrapped her in tissue paper and placed her in a bank vault.
“The only noble thing would have been not to use it,” he said at the time. “That would have been inappropriate.”
Since then, it has appeared in public less than a dozen times.
But by brightening up lunches in Aberdeen, balls in Stirling, evening events in Elgin and fashion shows in Bo’ness and Edinburgh, more than £39,000 was raised for the charity Children’s First.
“The notoriety of the dress was one of the reasons we were interested in purchasing it,” Mr Mackenzie said previously.
“It has an intrinsic value because she only wore it once, on that special evening. It’s a little piece of history.
“We were lucky enough to meet the Princess at the auction preview at Christie’s in London and told her about our intention to use the dress to raise money for charity.”
“At the time, charities were complaining that the National Lottery was affecting their donations.
“I thought the dress was a way to attract people to events and that his fame could only support that goal.”
A replica made by Stambolian in 2010 is in the Museum of Style Icons in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland.
“The replica was made later,” explained Stambolian. “I was in Greece and had nothing to do, so I thought, ‘I’m going to make this dress again.'”
“I knew the dress very well and so I made a very, very good copy.”
