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 ex-wife Princess Diana donned a little black dress to deliver her own powerful, if quiet, message.
On June 29, 1994, as the nation sat down to watch the future King confess to presenter Jonathan Dimbleby, Diana wore the ‘Revenge Dress’, as it was quickly dubbed, to a lavish fundraising dinner at the Serpentine gallery.
The princess wowed everyone in Christina Stambolian’s black silk crepe cocktail dress with an asymmetrical ruched bodice and side sash.
She paired it with her sapphire, pearl and diamond choker, which matched her engagement ring, and scarlet nails.
But, according to Stambolian, Diana almost didn’t buy the £900 dress because she considered it too daring; She originally wanted it in cream; and she only wore it that night in a fit of pique after rival designer Valentino leaked that she was going to wear her dress.
On June 29, 1994, the night Prince Charles admitted his affair with Camilla, his ex-wife Princess Diana wore what became known as the “revenge dress.” Designer Christina Stambolian revealed that the royal originally wanted the dress to be cream, but she was convinced it would look better in black.
Diana even wore red nail polish, something she hadn’t done before.
The infamous Panorama interview with David Dimbleby where Charles admitted to committing adultery with his now wife, Camilla Parker Bowles.
One press report described it as “the pièce de résistance…the little, brave, wicked, historic Serpentine cocktail, possibly the most strategic dress ever worn by a woman in modern times.”
“This was the devastating wisp of black gauze with which Diana knocked her husband off the covers the morning after his damaging televised interview.
“This is a dress that shows Diana, Princess of Wales, in full control of her own worth.”
Stambolian, who was born in Greece and trained in Athens, vividly remembers the day Diana walked into his shop, in London’s Beauchamp Place, after having lunch with her brother Earl Spencer at their favorite restaurant, San Lorenzo.
“Diana bought a short black and red day dress, a yellow silk blouse and a small cream sleeveless blouse, which totaled around £400,” she previously recalled.
She said Diana told her: ‘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.’
“We sat down and I drew some sketches on a piece of paper,” Stambolian continued.
‘The dress was revealing, quite short and showed a lot of leg and flesh. Diana wasn’t sure about that. She thought it was a bit forward. She wanted everything more covered, longer and with a higher neck.
‘I told him he had good legs and that he should show them to me. “Why not be bold?” I said. She asked her brother (Charles) and he told her, “Do what you think is right.” He finally said “yes” to the style and then we moved on to color.
‘I had black in my mind, but she wanted cream. To me, Diana was a black and white person. I didn’t like it with the pale pinks and blues with lots of beads.
The dress took two dressmakers more than 60 hours to make, as the finely pleated bodice had to be pinned and hand-sewn, while the chiffon skirt had to be carefully draped.
For three years, the hand-sewn dress, with its flirty hem, sat unworn in Diana’s wardrobe and Christina began to fear it would never be seen in public.
“I was very disappointed,” she said. Then I realized that she had been waiting for the right occasion.
‘She had gone to Valentino to buy a dress for that particular date. Then Valentino called all the newspapers saying that tomorrow he will come out in my dress.
“She heard that and Diana said, ‘There’s no way I’m going to do you a favor. “I’m going to wear another dress.”
Christina sketched the dress with Camilla present and originally wanted it in cream.
Princess Diana did not see Christina again until the reception at Christie’s auction in 1997.
Princess Diana in a pale blue Catherine Walker dress while chatting with ‘Revenge’ dress designer Christina Stambolian in 1997.
It took two dressmakers over 60 hours to make this, as the pleated bodice had to be pinned and hand-sewn.
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 wear it that night of all nights.
‘She chose not to play the scene as Odette, innocent in white.
“She was clearly angry. She played it as Odile dressed in black. She was wearing bright red nail polish, something we’d never seen her do before. She was saying, ‘Let’s be evil tonight.’
Stambolian did not see Diana again until Christie’s auction reception in June 1997, when Diana auctioned off 79 of her most iconic evening dresses.
She whispered to Stambolian, “By the way, that little black dress…I had to get into it.”
“What he meant was that he used it after two years and had gained weight,” the designer explained.
In fact, in the photographs it looked a little squashed. But she had nice shoulders and good legs.
The dress was bought for £44,511 by Scotsman Graeme Mackenzie and his wife Briege, owners of the Body Shop franchise in Scotland.
They planned to display it to raise money for Scottish charities.
After the princess’s death, the couple, from Bridge of Wier in Renfrewshire, who had three children, wrapped her in tissue paper and kept her in a bank vault.
“The only noble thing to do was not use it,” he said at the time. “It would have been inappropriate.”
Since then, he has appeared less than a dozen times in public.
But she has raised more than £39,000 for the Children’s First charity by gracing luncheons in Aberdeen, balls in Stirling, evening functions in Elgin and fashion shows in Bo’-ness and Edinburgh.
“The notoriety of the dress was part of the reason we were interested in buying it,” Mr Mackenzie previously said.
‘It has intrinsic value because he used it only once and he used it on that particular night. It’s a bit of history.
“We were lucky enough to meet the princess at the auction preview at Christie’s in London and told her of our intentions to wear 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 would be a way to attract people to events and that her fame could only help that goal.”
A replica, which Stambolian made in 2010, is in the Museum of Style Icons, in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland.
“The replica was made later,” Stambolian explained. “I was staying in Greece and had nothing to do, so I thought, ‘I’m going to make that dress again.'”
“I knew the dress very well, so I made a very, very good copy.”
