Princess Diana's 'Revenge Dress' Made 'Crown' Actress Feel 'Powerful'

The actress playing Princess Diana in the upcoming season of Netflix's royal drama The Crown said wearing a replica of the princess's iconic black "revenge dress" made her feel "powerful" given its significance in fashion history.

Elizabeth Debicki, who has taken over the role of Diana in the streaming drama from Emma Corrin, told Entertainment Weekly that on hearing she'd landed the coveted part of the princess, many of her friends asked her first about the "revenge dress."

"It fascinated me how entranced people were with that dress," she said.

"When it became known that I had the part, I received these text messages saying congratulations, [but] there was also a huge amount of text messages about the Revenge Dress. 'Do you get to wear the Revenge Dress?' 'Oh my God, you get to wear the Revenge Dress!'"

The actress added that wearing a replica of the dress, created specially for the production under the professional eye of costume designer Amy Roberts, felt: "very significant and quite powerful, but also it provoked something in me as an actor. I can't really explain it.

"It's pretty incredible that a dress would represent a moment in history, or that this human's life would represent so much and become so iconic. So that was a big day on set for me!"

The dress was cemented as one of the most significant in all of fashion history once the princess wore it on the evening of June 29, 1994 to an event at London's Serpentine Gallery.

The appearance was scheduled on the same evening Prince Charles would famously admit, in a television interview, to being unfaithful to his wife during their marriage (the couple separated in 1992 but would not divorce until 1996) once their relationship had "irretrievably broken down."

The revelation was due to make front page news after journalists were given an advance screening of the documentary which was also linked to the official biography of the prince written by Jonathan Dimbleby.

When Diana appeared at the gallery event in one of her most striking and daring fashion choices ever, photographs of the royal appeared on newspaper frontpages around the world, in many cases eclipsing the prince. This earned the dress the nickname of the "revenge dress" by the press.

Kerry Taylor, fashion expert and proprietor of Kerry Taylor Auctions who have sold a large number of Diana's dresses, told Newsweek that the dress symbolized much more than just the princess scoring a point against her husband, but also that the breakdown of her marriage wouldn't "define" her.

"It is a potent dress," Taylor said of the black silk crepe cocktail dress created by designer Christina Stambolian.

"I personally remember watching the news reel at the time, after Prince Charles had this bad press moment where he admitted infidelity on television—never a good thing to do—and then all eyes were on Diana to see was she crushed? Was she crestfallen? And it's a bit like that song, you know, I will survive. She marches in looking stunning, and I think a whole cheer went up nationally."

"It was this assertion of 'I have survived', 'I will survive' and, you know 'I won't be defined by this breakdown in my marriage'," she continued.

"In a way she was beginning to do that when of course, sadly, she died but I think that dress was just such a positive response."

Diana died in a Paris car crash while her car was pursued by members of the paparazzi on August 31, 1997. The crash occurred just weeks after the princess had sold a collection of her most famous dresses to raise money for charity, among them the "revenge dress."

One of the most eagerly anticipated lots, the dress was sold for $74,000 to businessman Graeme Mackenzie from Scotland. Mackenzie kept the dress in a bank vault where it is expected to have remained with his family to this day, removed rarely to be displayed at charity events.

Taylor sold an exact replica of the Stambolian dress made by the designer, the only one to have been created, in 2011 for £18,000 ($20,300).

"The designer said that she would only ever make one replica," she said before adding that it had been purchased by a museum collection.

"It's interesting that clothes can create such a fascination," she said.

"People are fascinated by these clothes that define moments in history in many ways."

Many of the dresses that were sold in the princess's 1997 auction to private buyers have been resold through Taylor's London auction house including the iconic "Travolta dress" worn to the White House in 1985. The dress was sold in 2020 to the charity Historic Royal Palaces where it was put on display at Kensington Palace.

Other items once belonging to the princess came through the auction house by less direct methods.

"We had this fantastic dress that she wore in the Gulf in 1986 by the Emanuels that was bought for £200 ($225) in a charity shop," Taylor explained.

"I think Fergie [Duchess of York]'s mother took it into this shop...presumably, on behalf of the Princess of Wales, and it was all done quite anonymously. So this lady bought this dress for £200. She was going to wear it to a hunt ball, but then she didn't because she would have to alter it, so it's in pristine condition, never worn again."

The dress sold in December 2018 for £130,000.

On the princess's style legacy and what the dresses she has left behind have come to symbolise 25 years after her death, Taylor says:

"The dresses have come to symbolise key moments and so they are very special to people. It's not just 'here's a dress I wore to go to the opera'. It's 'this is the dress I wore when you know my marriage completely broke down etc."

Many of the dresses have been displayed for charity or purchased by museums for preservation, something Taylor ultimately feels the princess would have appreciated.

"In many cases," she said. "[The dresses] have been used to do good, which I think the princess would have really, really liked."

The fifth season of Netflix's The Crown is available to stream from November 9.

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