One of Princess Diana's most iconic and meaningful fashion moments will be depicted in The Crown, as seen in recent photos of actress Elizabeth Debicki on set.
On Saturday, Nov. 6, the star was spotted filming season five of the Netflix historical drama series, which is inspired by real events surrounding the royal family, wearing a black off-the-shoulder dress. The outfit is a replica of the silk dress by Greek designer Christina Stambolian that the late Princess of Wales famously wore to a Vanity Fair fundraiser for the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens in 1994.
Diana's look inspired the term "revenge dress" because the event took place on the night ITV aired a documentary in which her then-estranged husband Prince Charles admitted to having an affair with now-wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, during his marriage to the princess.
Vanity Fair reported that according to Stambolian, Diana had originally purchased the dress back in 1991, but had deemed it too risqué to wear up until that point.
According to Tina Brown's 2007 biographical book The Diana Chronicles, Stambolian told a fashion commentator that Diana "chose not to play the scene like Odette [from Swan Lake], 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!'"
In the 2013 Channel 4 documentary Princess Diana's Dresses: The Auction, Stambolian said the princess planned to wear an outfit by Valentino that evening. But after the latter fashion house sent out an early press release announcing her planned style, she decided on the Stambolian dress instead, according to The Telegraph.
In addition to her dress, Debicki also sported a multi-layered pearl choker adorned with a sapphire surrounded by diamonds, a replica of the one Diana sported at the fundraiser. Queen Elizabeth II's mother, Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, had given the princess a brooch containing the center jewel as a wedding present and Diana eventually had it refashioned on a choker, The Telegraph reported.
Elizabeth is the second actress to portray Diana, mother of Prince William and Prince Harry, on The Crown. Emma Corrin played a younger version of the beloved royal and philanthropist, who died in 1997, on the fourth season of the show, which was released in November 2020.
Season five of The Crown is set to be released in November 2022.