The Story Behind The Dress That Turned Heads
Princess Diana is no stranger to our generation. She was one of the most photographed person in the world during the the 90’s, truly a global icon. Before she was the “people’s princess”, she was just a private citizen living in London , working as a kindergarten teacher, sharing a flat with friends and enjoying her independency from her family.
The year is 1980, where she reconnected with Prince Charles. They get engaged the following year in February 1981 where they did the famous interview announcing their engagement. In this interview, Prince Charles said “Whatever in love means”, when asked by the interviewer if he was in love with Diana. Yikes, that should have been the first red flag, however they were wed the July of the same year and birthed two sons, Prince William and Harry during their marriage.
It was no secret that they were having marital problems, it was both publicly and privately noticed. One of their biggest problem was Prince Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles and what made this even more scandalous? they were both married to other people and bared children. Their inner circle knew the truth, but to the public they were just “rumors”, not until Charles admitted to the affair in a 1994 television interview with Jonathan Dimbleby.
Many sources confirmed that Princess Diana was devastated and humiliated by Prince Charles public admission to his affair, so she chose the change the conversation. This was a calculated move on Princess Diana’s part, choosing to attend the gala dinner at the Serpentine Gallery in London wearing a stunning off-the-shoulder black cocktail dress. Princess Diana accessorized the dress with a pearl and sapphire choker made from a brooch, gifted to her by the Queen Mother herself as a wedding gift but it did not stop there. She also wore the Collingwood Pearl Drop earrings, along with a diamond and sapphire bracelet. She concluded the look with a Manolo Blahnik heels and a Salvatore Ferragamo clutch, the look was stunning.
She turned her humiliation to admiration the minute she stepped out of that car. The dressed was designed by the brilliant Greek designer Christina Stambolian, which she had owned three years prior but decided against wearing it seeing as it was too daring and more revealing than her usual style, but when the opportunity presented itself she decided it was time to maximize her confidence, beauty and unbothered attitude.
Images of Diana were plastered across every newspaper and magazine the next day, completely overshadowing Charles’s interview. Princess Diana’s revenge dress wasn’t just an iconic moment for the Princess of Wales, it has submerged itself in history as one of the most well-known fashion statement of all time. After her tragic death, the dress went up for auction accompanied by some of her other belongings and was sold to a Scottish collector named Graeme Mackenzie for a whopping $74,000, which is still under their ownership to this day. Decades later, and the dress is still talked about in the fashion world. The idea of using clothing as a weapon for confidence and transformation has become a staple for not just other public figures but women and men around the world.
Jonathan Ramirez 