# Diana's revenge dress is back on the block

> The black silk dress Diana wore hours after Charles admitted adultery could fetch £220,000 in December.
- Title: Diana's revenge dress is back on the block · BBC News
- Summary: The black silk dress Diana wore hours after Charles admitted adultery could fetch £220,000 in December. Diana used one wardrobe change to answer a televised…
- Keywords: princess diana, fashion, auctions, royals, sotheby's, news, world, Diana's, revenge, dress, back, block
- Source: BBC News — https://bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0lrk7d7j0no
- Published: 2026-09-11T03:15:46.226+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: princess diana, fashion, auctions, royals, sotheby's, news, world
## The dress returns
Sotheby's will auction Princess Diana's strapless black silk evening dress on 9 December, with an estimate of up to £220,000, or $300,000.
## Hours after the confession
A documentary aired that same evening in which Prince Charles admitted he had been unfaithful. Diana's arrival at the Serpentine Gallery was read as her reply.
## A last-minute change
She set aside a quieter Valentino gown for Christina Stambolian's off-the-shoulder design with an asymmetric hem and chiffon train, worn with a royal necklace and black heels.

> wanted to look a million dollars
## Clothes as an answer
Sotheby's fashion head Morgane Halimi says Diana knew fashion was a language, and used it during one of the most scrutinised weeks of her life.

> She walked into a moment in which so much of her story was being told for her and, through what she chose to wear, reclaimed the narrative for herself.
## Sold once before, for charity
Diana sold 79 dresses in 1997, months before she died, to raise money for cancer and Aids charities. Glasgow couple Briege and Graeme Mackenzie paid £39,098 for this one.
## Why she is selling now
Briege Mackenzie decided to part with it after her husband's death. Bidding on it together had been one of the great days of their life.

> It went from a cocktail dress to a statement in the time it took to photograph her.
## What Diana's wardrobe fetches
The Jaguar XJ40 she arrived in sold for £66,250 this year. Her black sheep sweater went for £920,000 in 2023, so the estimate may prove modest.
## Key takeaway

Diana used one wardrobe change to answer a televised confession, and the world still reads the message thirty years later.