Princess Diana's 'Revenge Dress' Is on Free View at Sotheby's London Until 24 September

The dress Princess Diana wore to a Serpentine Gallery gala in London on 29 June 1994 is on display at Sotheby's on Bond Street until Thursday 24 September 2026, and it is free to see. The London stop is the first on a tour that goes on to Hong Kong and Geneva before the dress is sold in New York on 9 December, the Associated Press reported on 18 September. Sotheby's presale estimate is $150,000 to $300,000.

The dress is by the Greek designer Christina Stambolian. It was worn on the evening that Prince Charles admitted adultery in a televised interview, which is how a short black dress came to be called the 'revenge dress'. Diana sold it in 1997 to benefit AIDS charities, according to AP, and it has not been auctioned since.

When to go

• Where: Sotheby's on Bond Street, per IanVisits (its calendar listing says 'New Oxford Street', but its article gives Bond Street).
• When: the display opened on Friday 18 September (12pm to 5pm that day) and runs to Thursday 24 September, 10am to 5pm, per IanVisits.
• Cost: free.
• After London: Hong Kong and Geneva, then the sale in New York on Wednesday 9 December 2026. Sotheby's lists it as 'Princess Diana: The Revenge Dress'.

One black dress, one evening at the Serpentine, and thirty-two years of being the picture.

Why Sotheby's is talking it up

Morgane Halimi, Sotheby's global head of handbags and fashion, told AP: 'I personally believe that this dress is the most powerful item linked to Diana.' That is her view as the seller, but the house has recent form to point to. In 2023 a 1981 Diana sheep sweater sold for $1.1m, which AP calls a record for Diana memorabilia. A dress with a date, a place and a story attached, shown first in the city where it was worn, is a different order of object.

For anyone who cares about fashion history, the free week at Sotheby's is the moment. After Thursday 24 September the dress leaves London for Hong Kong and Geneva, and then for the sale in New York.