Newz(CNN) — Princess Diana’s head-turning “revenge dress,” which broke royal protocol and created a sensational pop culture moment, is going on sale for the first time in nearly 30 years. The showstopping evening gown by Greek designer Christina Stambolian will be exhibited in London this month, before heading to Hong Kong, Geneva, and finally New York, where it is expected to sell for up to $300,000 when it goes under the hammer on December 9. The late Princess of Wales wore the black, figure-hugging dress on June 29, 1994 — the same day that her then-husband, now-King Charles III, admitted in an ITN documentary that he’d been unfaithful.
The revelation had been leaked days prior by the British press and the documentary aired to 13 million viewers nationwide. Yet Diana chose to arrive for a party at the Serpentine Gallery in London in a gown so captivating it received its own moniker, becoming known as “the revenge dress.” Pairing the shoulder-baring silk design with black heels, a black clutch, bold red nails and a jeweled chocker – created from an antique diamond and sapphire brooch that Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, gifted her for her wedding, according to Sotheby’s – Diana reclaimed her image in the public’s imagination. “Fashion can be a language when words fail or are simply not enough.
Princess Diana understood that instinctively,” said Morgane Halimi, head of handbags and fashion at Sotheby’s, in a statement Thursday. “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 added. At the time, black was only considered appropriate for royals during funerals.
Stambolian’s design is a version of the little black dress, a fashion statement first conceived in 1926 by Coco Chanel to reimagine black, from a color of mourning to one of sophisticated chic, and free women from the fashion constraint of earlier times, according to Sotheby’s. Diana made the impulsive decision to wear the black design, which had been sitting in her closet for three years out of fear it was “too daring,” Stambolian said in the 2013 Channel 4 documentary “Princess Diana’s Dresses: The Auction.” The dark outfit and its pop culture moment has since been memorialized in clothing lines, on social media and on TV programs such as Netflix’s historic… Princess Diana’s head-turning "revenge dress," which broke royal protocol and created a sensational pop culture moment, is going on sale for the first time in nearly 30 years.
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