A black silk evening dress Princess Diana wore to a 1994 Serpentine Gallery fundraiser will be offered at Sotheby's on 9 December, and the auction house says it could fetch as much as $300,000, or £220,000.
The gown, a custom strapless design by Christina Stambolian, became known as the "revenge dress" after Diana changed into it on the night a televised documentary showed the then-Prince Charles admitting to adultery during their marriage. The outfit's arrival at the event was widely covered and the media applied the nickname that has endured.
Sotheby's says this is the first time the Stambolian dress has been offered for sale since 1997, when Diana put 79 garments on the block to raise money for charities. The auction house's announcement notes the dress's provenance and the cultural moment it marks as reasons collectors will watch the lot closely.
Morgane Halimi, Sotheby's Global Head of Handbags and Fashion, said Diana "understood instinctively" that clothing can be communicative. "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. Anna Harvey, Diana's stylist at the time, said the princess "wanted to look a million dollars."
The sale follows other high-profile results for Diana-related items at Sotheby's. In 2023 a sweater from the princess's wardrobe sold for £920,000 in New York, and earlier this year the vintage Jaguar XJ40 she used to arrive at the Serpentine event was sold for £66,250. Sotheby's expectation that the dress could reach up to $300,000 places it well below that sweater's headline price but still positions it as a headline lot for the December sale.
The auction will test continuing market appetite for pieces linked to Diana's public life and the stories they carry. Sotheby's will present the dress on 9 December, when collectors and dealers will establish its final value.
