The little known fact behind Princess Diana’s ‘revenge’ necklace

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Aside from her wedding dress, Princess Diana's revenge dress is perhaps her most famous one. She wore the black off-the-shoulder cocktail dress by Christina Stambolian to the Vanity Fair party at the Serpentine Gallery on 20th November 1994.

Although she'd bought it three years prior to the event, she thought it was too daring at the time. Luckily she changed her mind, and wore the head-turning frock on the very same night Prince Charles admitted to his affair with Camilla on TV.

Diana's outfit of course stole the headlines the next morning, earning it the 'revenge dress' moniker.

She accessorised it to perfection with a statement choker, which featured a large oval sapphire surrounded by diamonds and set on three strands of pearls.

A little known fact is that the piece didn't start out as a necklace at all. The central stone used to be a brooch belonging to Queen Mary, and Diana made the bold decision to turn it into a necklace and make it more modern and wearable.

The late royal loved the new piece and wore it countless times, including to the White House dinner where she danced with John Travolta in 1995.

The piece of course belonged to the royal family, so is it likely still in the collection now.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Contributing Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK. She writes about catwalk trends and the latest high street and Instagram sartorial must-haves. She also helms the Women Who Win franchise.

She has worked in fashion for over 10 years, contributing to publications such as Cosmopolitan, Red, Good Housekeeping, and Stylist.