Diana's 'revenge dress' goes on display at Sotheby's ahead of auction expected to fetch £220,000

From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.

Princess Diana's iconic black Christina Stambolian gown — worn on the night Prince Charles publicly admitted his affair in 1994 — went on public display at Sotheby's in London on Friday, nearly 30 years after it was last seen. Sotheby's global head of handbags and fashion Morgane Halimi said Diana chose the figure-hugging, off-the-shoulder silk dress to tell the world she was 'taking back the narrative'. The dress will tour Hong Kong, Geneva and New York before going under the hammer in New York on December 9, with a presale estimate of $150,000-$300,000.

The dress is being auctioned for the first time since 1997, when Diana sold it to raise money for AIDS charities.

Diana wore it to a Serpentine Gallery gala accessorised with a sapphire necklace, red nail polish and black pumps — the headline the next day read: 'Revenge is chic.'

The auction comes as Diana is back in the headlines after Earl Spencer's book accused King Charles of saying 'we'll forget her soon enough' days after her death.