The Diana revenge dress auction is set for 9 December at Sotheby’s in New York, with the off-the-shoulder gown expected to sell for up to £220,000, the first time it has come to market since 1997.
The dress was worn by Diana on 29 June 1994, the evening a documentary broadcast in which the then-Prince of Wales admitted he had been unfaithful, according to AP News. The content of the ITV interview had leaked days beforehand, making Diana’s appearance at a Serpentine Gallery fundraising dinner that same night her first public outing after the disclosure. She made a last-minute wardrobe change, setting aside a Valentino gown in favour of the asymmetric, chiffon-trained piece by Greek designer Christina Stambolian, accessorised with a royal necklace, black clutch and black heels.
Diana revenge dress auction: the story behind the gown
Anna Harvey, her stylist at the time, has been reported as saying that Diana ‘wanted to look a million dollars’. The moment was widely read as a deliberate reply to the broadcast, and the dress acquired its now-famous name.
Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s Global Head of Handbags and Fashion, said in a statement that 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.’
The gown was first sold at auction in 1997, when Diana herself sold 79 dresses to raise money for cancer and Aids charities. It was bought by then-Glasgow resident Briege Mackenzie and her husband Graeme for £39,098. Mackenzie told the Independent at the time that they had not purchased it to wear (‘I can’t fit in it,’ she said) but because the proceeds were going to the charity Children First.
According to Harper’s Bazaar, the dress was subsequently lent to charitable fundraising events throughout Scotland before receding from public view for nearly three decades. It is now returning to public life with a global tour ahead of the sale.
World tour before the New York sale
The dress will appear at Sotheby’s London showroom from 18 to 24 September, then travel to Hong Kong at the start of October, Geneva at the start of November, and finally New York, where it will be sold on 9 December.
Mackenzie, in a statement issued by Sotheby’s, said: ‘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 said she had decided to sell following the death of her husband, with bidding on the dress having been ‘one of the great days of our life together’.
Sotheby’s said a rare copy of the 1997 auction catalogue, signed by Diana and Stambolian and crediting Prince William with the idea to auction the dresses, will be sold alongside the gown. Part of the proceeds will be donated to Royal Edinburgh Hospital via NHS Lothian Charity.
The sale comes with a notable reference point for what Diana’s wardrobe can command. A red sweater adorned with sheep that Diana wore to a polo match in 1981 sold in 2023 for $1.1 million, many times its presale estimate and a record for an item owned by the late royal, AP News reported. By comparison, the vintage Jaguar XJ40 in which Diana arrived at the Serpentine Gallery that June evening sold at auction earlier this year for £66,250. The revenge dress, Sotheby’s expects, will fetch considerably more.
