How Diana's ultimate Revenge Dress SHOULD have looked: Princess's iconic LBD would have faded into cream obscurity but for a last-minute change of design, an intervention from her loving brother... and a fall-out with a very famous designer
It was one of the most meaningful statements in the history of fashion - and the Royal Family.
Nearly 30 years ago, on the night Prince Charles admitted to his affair with Camilla, his estranged wife Princess Diana slipped on a little black number to relay her own powerful, if silent, message.
On June 29, 1994, as the nation sat down to watch the future King confess to presenter Jonathan Dimbleby, Diana wore the 'Revenge Dress' - as it was quickly dubbed - for her attendance at a glitzy fundraising dinner at the Serpentine gallery.
The Princess wowed everyone in the Christina Stambolian black silk crepe cocktail gown with an asymmetric ruched bodice and side sash.
She teamed it with her sapphire, pearl, and diamond choker - which matched her engagement ring - and scarlet nails.
But, according to Stambolian, Diana nearly didn't buy the £900 dress as she thought it too risqué; originally wanted it in cream; and only wore it that night in a fit of pique after rival designer Valentino leaked that she was going to wear his dress.
On June 29, 1994, the night Prince Charles admitted to his affair with Camilla, his estranged wife Princess Diana slipped on what became known as the 'Revenge Dress'. Designer Christina Stambolian revealed that the royal originally wanted the dress to be cream, but she was persuaded it would look better in black
Diana even wore red nail varnish which was something she hadn't done before
The infamous Panorama interview with David Dimbleby where Charles admitted adultery with his now wife, Camilla Parker Bowles
One press report described it as 'the pièce de résistance…the brave, wicked, historic little Serpentine Cocktail possibly the most strategic dress ever worn by a woman in modern times'.
'This was the devastating wisp of black chiffon with which Diana flipped her husband clean off the front pages the morning after his damaging televised interview.
'This is a dress that shows Diana, Princess of Wales, fully in command of a sense of her own value'.
Stambolian, who was born in Greece and trained in Athens, vividly remembers the day that Diana walked into her shop, in London's Beauchamp Place, after having lunch with her brother Earl Spencer at her favourite restaurant San Lorenzo.
'Diana bought a black-and-red short, day dress, a yellow silk blouse and a small cream sleeveless blouse which added up to about £400,' she previously recalled.
She said Diana told her: 'I want a special dress for a special occasion. It doesn't matter if it is short or long. It has to be something special.'
'We sat down, and I drew a few sketches on a piece of paper,' Stambolian continued.
'The dress was revealing, quite short and showed quite a bit of leg and flesh. Diana was not sure about it. She thought it was a bit risqué. She wanted everything more covered up, longer and the neck higher.
'I told her she had good legs, and she should show them. "Why not be daring?" I said. She asked her brother [Charles] and he said: "Do what you think is right." Finally, she said "yes" to the style then we moved on to the colour.
'I had black in my mind, but she wanted cream. To me Diana was a black and white sort of person. I didn't like her in the pale pinks and blues with lots of beading.'
Two dressmakers took more than 60 hours to make the dress as the finely pleated bodice had to be hand pinned and sewn, while the chiffon skirt had to be carefully draped.
For three years the hand-stitched dress, with its flirtatious hem, hung unworn in Diana's wardrobe and Christina began to fear that it might never be seen in public.
'I was very disappointed,' she said. 'Then I realized she had been waiting for the right occasion.
'She had gone to Valentino to get a dress for that particular date. Then Valentino rang all the newspapers saying she's coming out with my dress tomorrow.
'She heard that and Diana said: "There's no way I'm going to do him a favour. I'm going to wear another dress."
Christina sketched out the dress with Camilla present and originally wanted it in cream
Princess Diana didn't meet Christina again until the reception at the Christie's Auction in 1997
Princess Diana wearing a pale blue Catherine Walker dress whilst chatting to the designer of the 'Revenge' dress, Christina Stambolian in 1997
Two dressmakers took more than 60 hours to make this as the pleated bodice had to be hand pinned and sewn
A tense Princess Diana in a cream silk gown with Prince Charles during a visit to Paris in 1988
Referring to one of Diana's favourite ballets, Swan Lake, Stambolian added: 'I was thrilled to see Diana wear it on that night of all nights.
'She chose not to play the scene like Odette, innocent in white.
'She was clearly angry. She played it like Odile in black. She wore bright red nail enamel, which we had never seen her do before. She was saying: "Let's be wicked tonight."
Stambolian did not see Diana again until the reception for the Christie's auction, in June 1997, when Diana auctioned 79 of her most iconic evening gowns.
She whispered to Stambolian: 'By the way, that little black dress - I had a job to squeeze into it.'
'What she meant was she wore it after two years and had put on weight,' the designer explained.
'In fact, she looked in the photographs a bit squashed into it. But she had beautiful shoulders and good legs.'
The dress was bought for £44,511 by Scotsman Graeme Mackenzie and his wife Briege, who owned the Body Shop franchise in Scotland.
They planned to exhibit it to raise money for Scottish charities.
After the princess' death, the couple, from Bridge of Wier, in Renfrewshire, who had three sons, wrapped it in tissue paper and put it in a bank vault.
'The only noble thing to do was not to use it,' he said at the time. 'It would have been inappropriate.'
Since then, it has appeared fewer than a dozen times in public.
But it has raised more than £39,000 for the charity Children's First by gracing luncheons in Aberdeen, balls in Stirling, evening functions in Elgin and fashion shows at Bo'-ness and Edinburgh.
'The notoriety of the dress was part of the reason why we were interested in buying it,' Mr Mackenzie previously said.
'It has an intrinsic value because she wore it only once and she wore it on that particular night. It's a little bit of history.
'We were lucky enough to meet the Princess at the auction preview in Christie's in London and told her our intentions of using the dress to raise money for charity.
'At the time charities were complaining that the National Lottery was impacting on their donations.
'I thought the dress would be a way of attracting people to events and that its fame could only help that aim.'
A replica, which Stambolian made in 2010, is in the Museum of Style Icons, in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland.
'The replica was made later on,' explained Stambolian. 'I was staying in Greece, and I had nothing to do so I thought: "I'm going to make that dress again."
'I knew the dress very well, so I made a very, very, good copy.'
Claudia Joseph is the author of Diana: A Life in Dresses, £40 at ACC Art Books.
