One of Princess Diana’s most memorable dresses will be put up for auction, more than 30 years after she wore the famous black gown to a high-profile London event.
Known as the “revenge dress”, the silk gown is expected to sell for up to $US300,000 ($A419,000) when it goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s in New York in December.
The dress will be displayed in London in October, followed by a global exhibition tour, with stops at Sotheby’s locations in Hong Kong, Geneva and New York ahead of the live sale on December 9.
Diana wore the off-the-shoulder black silk dress, designed by Christina Stambolian, to a Vanity Fair fundraising dinner at London’s Serpentine Gallery in 1994.
She made headlines that night after her then-husband, the Prince of Wales, publicly admitted his affair on national television.
The dress quickly became one of Diana’s most recognisable fashion moments, breaking with traditional expectations of royal dress through its black colour, plunging neckline and above-the-knee hemline.
Diana, who died aged 36 in 1997, had previously sold 79 of her dresses in June that year to raise money for cancer and AIDS charities.
The upcoming auction marks the first time the “revenge dress” has been offered for sale since 1997.
It is expected to fetch between $US150,000 and $US300,000 ($A209,000 and $A419,000).
Part of the proceeds will be donated to NHS Lothian Charity on behalf of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, which funds additional care, equipment and projects.
The dress will also be sold alongside a copy of the original catalogue, numbered and signed by Diana and Greek designer Stambolian. The catalogue credits the Prince of Wales with the idea for the charity fundraiser.
Sotheby’s global head of handbags and fashion Morgane Halimi said the dress represented more than a significant moment in fashion history.
“Fashion can be a language when words fail or are simply not enough. Princess Diana understood that instinctively,” she said.
“What makes this dress extraordinary is not merely that it was worn by the princess, nor that its appearance at the Serpentine event made headlines around the world. It is what it communicated.”
Image: Campbell Addy for Sotheby’s
