Much ado has been made about Princess Diana‘s 1994 “revenge dress.” This term was coined by the press about the Christina Stambolian gown worn by Diana the day Prince Charles confessed his longtime affair with Camilla Parker Bowles on television. However, this wasn’t the first fashion choice Diana made that had a hidden meaning. Let’s revisit Diana’s first “revenge dress,” worn months before she walked down the aisle to become Princess of Wales.

What was Princess Diana’s first ‘revenge dress’ and why did she choose it?

Princess Diana was out to shatter the stereotypes she faced as Prince Charles’ fiance. Just 19, she was already pigeonholed by the press as “Shy Di” who blushed easily and appeared timid in Charles’ shadow.

Therefore, when she was dressing for a charity event at Goldsmiths’ Hall in London in March 1981, she visited the dress shop of designers David and Elizabeth Emanuel to find a suitable design. While she was there, Diana saw a stunning, black, off-the-shoulder original she subsequently tried on.

After seeing Diana in the dress, Elizabeth Emanuel said, per Vogue,  “She looked so grown up, like a movie star, and she loved the idea of breaking the mold.” The strapless ruffled gown with a plunging heart-shaped bodice showed that Diana was already thinking of how she would be perceived in the future, a confident move for a teenager.

Diana wanted to show Fleet Street’s reporters that she could be taken seriously as Charles’ bride. This “revenge dress” was a perfect way to show that she didn’t fit their pigeonholed mold.

What was the reaction to Diana’s bold fashion choice?

Reaction to Princess Diana’s choice to wear a typically un-royal black gown was applauded by the media, the very people whose opinion she reportedly wanted to shift. The New York Times had this to say about Diana’s transformation from “Shy Di” to a confident young woman.

“In the months during the engagement, Lady Diana made a visible transition from girl to woman. She shed her demure style of dress that she has loved since childhood, and emerged in a frankly sexy black gown.”

“It was astounding,” Elizabeth Emanuel, one-half of the design duo behind the image-changing look, told Vogue. “We witnessed the birth of a fashion icon before our very eyes. We didn’t even consider whether the dress was right for the occasion, we just thought she looked fabulous.”

Diana later told writer Andrew Morton, “I remember my first [royal] engagement so well. So excited. Black dress from the Emanuels and I thought it was OK because girls my age wore this dress.”

“I remember walking into my husband-to-be’s study, and him saying, ‘You’re not going in that dress, are you?’ I replied, ‘Yes, I am’. And he said, ‘It’s black! But only people in mourning wear black!’ I hadn’t appreciated that I was now seen as a royal lady, although I’d only got one ring on my finger as opposed to two rings.” 

The dress was subsequently sold at auction in 2010. The black taffeta stunner fetched $276,000.

What was Princess Diana’s second ‘revenge dress?’

Thirteen years after Diana wore her first “revenge dress,” Diana revisited the look with a completely different gown style. More self-assured than ever and as her marriage to Prince Charles was on its last legs, Diana emerged for a royal event in a slim-fitting black Christina Stambolian dress.

As she attended a Serpentine Gallery summer party in 1994, the tight black dress with a train was a daring number. It showed Diana’s decollete and long, toned legs.

Just like her first “revenge dress” the second gown featured an off-the-shoulder look and a plunging neckline. Diana added black high heels and a pearl choker to complete her look.

It was rumored that Princess Diana chose this dress to wear hours after her husband’s 1994 interview with journalist Jonathan Dimbleby aired. Charles admitted to being unfaithful to his wife.

“Yes, absolutely,” he said at first. That answer was followed by “Until it became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried.”

Prince Charles and Princess Diana formally separated in 1992. On Aug. 28. 1996 their divorce was finalized. An auto accident on Aug. 31, 1997, in Paris, France ended her life.