Princess Diana’s famous black dress, known as the «Revenge Dress», is set to go under the hammer at the renowned Sotheby’s auction house in New York. The dress is estimated to fetch between $150,000 and $300,000, according to WWD.

It is the iconic strapless black silk dress by Greek designer Christina Stambolian, which Diana wore to a Vanity Fair charity event at London’s Serpentine Gallery in 1994. That same evening, her husband, Prince Charles, publicly admitted to being unfaithful during a televised interview.

 

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Diana had originally planned to wear a much more understated Valentino look. However, she changed her mind at the last minute. The following day, photographs of Diana from the event appeared on the front pages of newspapers around the world. The look later became one of the most famous examples of so-called «revenge dressing» — clothing used to project confidence, independence and a readiness to begin a new chapter.

Princess Diana parted with the dress in 1997, just a few months before she was killed in a car crash in Paris, selling it at a charity auction.

The dress subsequently entered a private collection and remained out of the public eye for nearly three decades. It was last displayed at the Paisley Museum in Scotland, after which it disappeared from public view.

 

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At Sotheby’s, they believe the significance of the dress has long extended far beyond fashion.

«On her own terms, Princess Diana transformed this dress into one of the most powerful statements of her life — during a period that was among the most public and emotionally charged of her life», the auction house commented.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale will be donated by Sotheby’s to NHS Lothian Charity to support the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.

Interestingly, ahead of the auction on December 9, the dress will embark on a worldwide tour. Its first stop will be London, where it will go on display on September 18. It will then be shown in Hong Kong and Geneva before arriving in New York.

Photo: Still from the series «The Crown»

The self-portrait «The Dream» (El sueño) by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in New York for 54.7 million dollars.

This sum set a new record for the highest price ever paid for a painting created by a woman. The identity of the buyer remains undisclosed.

The canvas, also known as «The Bed» (La cama), was created in 1940 and depicts a self-portrait of Kahlo: the artist shows herself sleeping in a bed, with a skeleton lying atop its canopy. According to Sotheby’s, Frida truly slept beneath a similar canopy decorated with a papier-mâché skeleton.

El sueño (La cama) surpassed the previous record set by Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting «Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1», which sold in 2014 for 44.4 million dollars. It also exceeded Kahlo’s own previous auction record: until now, her most expensive work had been «Diego and I», sold in 2021 for 34.9 million dollars.

Photo: Instagram @sothebys