Princess Diana’s dress, dubbed the “revenge dress”, is up for auction.
The late Princess of Wales wore a strapless black silk evening dress to a party in London hours after her then-husband Prince Charles admitted to adultery during their marriage.
Her dramatic appearance at the Serpentine Gallery in 1994 in this outfit became an iconic pop culture moment.
Auction house Sotheby’s expects the dress to sell for £220,000 ($300,000) when it goes under the hammer on December 9 for the first time since 1997, when the princess sold 79 of her dresses just months before her death to raise money for charity.
Morgan Halimi, Sotheby’s global head of bags and fashion, said in a statement that Princess Diana “instinctively understood” that fashion could be a language in its own right.
“For her part, Princess Diana turned this dress into one of the most powerful messages she has ever made, during one of the most scrutinized and emotionally charged episodes of her life,” she said.
“She came into a moment where most of her story was being told for her, and through what she chose to wear, she reclaimed her narrative.”
On the same evening as a fundraising dinner at the Serpentine Gallery, a documentary was aired in which the Prince of Wales (now King) admitted to cheating on Diana after years of rumors and media reports.
The contents of the ITV interview had been leaked days earlier, meaning Diana’s first public appearance since it aired was widely seen as her response.
Anna Harvey, her stylist at the time, reportedly said the princess “wanted to look like a million dollars.”
Before heading to the event, she made a last-minute wardrobe change, ditching the less glamorous Valentino dress in favor of an off-the-shoulder gown with an asymmetrical hem and chiffon train by Greek designer Christina Stambolian, which she accessorized with a regal necklace, a black clutch and black heels.
Before the sale, the “revenge dress” will tour the world, appearing in Sotheby’s London showroom from September 18 to 24, before traveling to Hong Kong in early October, Geneva in early November, and then 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 Bridge Mackenzie and her husband Graham, paying £39,098 for it.