Princess Diana really wanted her “revenge dress” to be made in white because she was not convinced that it would look better in black.
The former Princess of Wales made a historic appearance when she stepped out on the same night that King Charles III admitted he had cheated on his ex-wife with Queen Consort Camilla.
Recalling the time the mother-of-two chose the dress to wear at the Serpentine Gallery in 1994, Claudia Joseph – author of Diana: A Life in Clothes, SPOKE We are every week what really happened behind the scenes of the season.
“The story behind her wearing the ‘Revenge Dress’ is quite interesting,” he said. “She went to Christina Stambolian’s clothing store with her brother Charlie Spencer, and she sat there while she tried on clothes.”
She said that Diana wanted a beautiful off-the-shoulder dress in “white” but the designer insisted to her that the ensemble would look better in black, however, the idea did not appeal to the late Princess.
“He [groaning] about it, but Christina insisted, ‘It looks good on you,’” shared Claudia, adding that Diana decided to agree with the designer’s opinion and ordered the dress in black.
However, on the day of the event at the Serpentine Gallery, it emerged that Diana was to wear a Valentino dress which upset her and she ended up wearing a black dress at the suggestion of her butler.
“He was very upset about that, so he went into his closet and his butler suggested that he wear jeans [Stambolian]and it’s of course called the ‘Revenge Dress,'” said Claudia.
