Categories
Princess Diana's 'revenge dress' goes up for auction
Princess Diana's 'revenge dress' goes up for auction
- Published11 September 2026, 04:15 BST
A dress worn by Princess Diana dubbed her "revenge dress" is being put up for auction.
The late Princess of Wales wore the strapless black silk evening dress to a party in London hours after her then-estranged husband Prince Charles admitted to committing adultery during their marriage.
Her dramatic arrival at the Serpentine Gallery in 1994 in the outfit became an iconic pop-culture moment.
Auction house Sotheby's expects the dress to sell for up to £220,000 ($300,000) when it goes under the hammer on 9 December - the first time it has been up for auction since 1997, when the princess sold 79 of her dresses just months before her death 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," she 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."
The same evening as the Serpentine Gallery fundraising dinner, a documentary had aired in which the Prince of Wales (now King) had admitted that he had been unfaithful to Diana, after years of rumours and media reports.
The content of the ITV interview had been leaked a few days prior, meaning Diana's first public appearance after it aired was widely interpreted as her reply.
Anna Harvey, her stylist at the time, has been reported as saying that the princess "wanted to look a million dollars".
She made a last-minute wardrobe change before heading out to the event, setting aside a less striking Valentino gown in favour of the off-the-shoulder dress with an asymmetric hemline and chiffon train by Greek designer Christina Stambolian, which she accessorised with a royal necklace, black clutch and black heels.
The "revenge dress" will be toured around the world prior to its sale, appearing at Sotheby's London showroom from 18 to 24 September, before heading to Hong Kong for the start of October, Geneva for the start of November and then on to New York, where it will be sold.
It was last auctioned by Diana herself, as one of dozens of items sold to raise funds for cancer and Aids charities.
The dress was bought by then-Glasgow resident Briege Mackenzie and her husband Graeme, who paid £39,098 for it.
She told the Independent, external at the time that they had purchased the item not to wear - "I can't fit in it," she said - but because the proceeds were going to charity Children First.
Mackenzie said in a statement issued by Sotheby's on Thursday: "My late husband and I knew that this dress was something special.
"Princess Diana was walking into the worst night of her life and you would never know it to look at her. It went from a cocktail dress to a statement in the time it took to photograph her.
"Thirty years on, you can say the words anywhere in the world and everyone knows exactly which dress you mean."
She added that she had decided to sell the dress following the death of her husband, with whom bidding on it had been "one of the great days of our life together".
Sotheby's said that a rare copy of the 1997 auction catalogue, signed by Diana and Stambolian, and which credits Prince William for the idea to auction the dress, will be sold alongside it.
Part of the proceeds from the sale will be donated to Royal Edinburgh Hospital via the NHS Lothian Charity.
The vintage Jaguar XJ40 car that Diana had arrived at the Serpentine Gallery event in was sold at auction earlier this year for £66,250.
The dress, however, is expected to fetch a considerably higher price - though it would not be the first time an item from the princess's wardrobe has sold for a significant sum.
One of Diana's sweaters, featuring a black sheep among rows of white ones, was sold for £920,000 at an auction by Sotheby's in New York in 2023.
Get our flagship newsletter with all the headlines you need to start the day. Sign up here.