Princess Diana almost didn’t wear her revenge dress

It’s been nearly three decades since Princess Diana coined the term “revenge dress” with an iconic little dress that is now firmly cemented in fashion history. While then-Prince Charles admitted to having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles on national television on June 29, 1994, Princess Di made headlines with this off-the-shoulder dress — a bold sartorial choice for a royal. While Diana’s revenge dress made fashion history, she almost wore a completely different look that evening.

The black silk Christina Stambolian mini dress with a chiffon train that Diana ended up wearing to the gala at the Serpentine Gallery had actually been sitting in the princess’s closet unworn for years, the designer said in the book by Claudia Joseph from 2022. Diana: a life in dressesThe royal had originally planned to wear a Valentino dress for the occasion, but apparently changed her mind at the last minute after the designer divulged that she would be wearing his creation to the press the day before.

Instead, she turned to the custom hand-stitched mini dress she’d designed a few years earlier. Christina Stambolian’s figure-hugging number, which featured a sweetheart neckline and ruching on the bodice and skirt, was almost too bold for Princess Diana, who originally thought the design was “a little risky,” according to the creative.

“The dress was revealing, quite short and showed quite a bit of leg and flesh. Diana wasn’t sure,” Stambolian said. “She wanted everything to be more covered, longer and the neck to be higher.”

Stambolian encouraged her to take a fashion risk: ‘I told her she had great legs and she should show them off,’ she recalled telling the late royal – and also helped Diana to change your mind about being careful with the color of the dress.

“’I had black in mind, but she wanted cream,” she said. “For me, Diana was a black and white person. I didn’t like it in pale pinks and blues with lots of pearls.

Fortunately, Princess Diana took Stambolian’s advice and made a powerful statement by wearing this number – which the media called “the most strategic dress ever worn by a modern-day woman” – to the gala. She teamed it with a sparkling sapphire, pearl and diamond choker, sheer black tights, black heels and bright red nails – a rarity for the princess, which meant she was ushering in a new sartorial era.