When people think of Princess Diana and a LBD, it’s usually the infamous 1994 “revenge dress.”
Or, the black dress she wore when she danced with John Travolta at the White House during the Reagan Administration1.
The original black dress is not one that people typically associate with Diana—or maybe even know about. It’s from the very beginning of Diana’s time in the Royal Family. She’s not quite the fashionista she will one day become. The dress is from a snapshot in time that is neither a happy nor triumphant moment in the face of scandal, as the “revenge dress.”
Diana’s First Royal Event as an Engaged Woman
On March 9th 1981, less than a month after her engagement to Prince Charles, Lady Diana Spencer attended her first official Royal event.
“I’m going somewhere very, very posh,” is all the 19-year-old future Queen reportedly told Designer David Emanuel (who would go on to design her wedding dress) about the event she was preparing for.
They decided on a black strapless silk taffeta dress with a tight bodice and full skirt. Why black? Well, it’s the height of sophistication when you are a 19-year-old selecting her clothing for the first time.2 Diana must have felt like the literal Princess she was about to become in that gown.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be one of Diana’s earliest faux pas, foreshadowing her difficult time in the Royal Family.
The dress did not receive the kind of praise she was expecting from her future husband or the media. Charles was upset with her because black is only permitted for royals when in mourning—not that anyone told her that. Some in the press chastised her for wearing such a revealing dress, and choosing strapless at that for a sit-down dinner. Even Diana’s status as a “Lady” with proper finishing school to boot couldn’t have prepared her for royal life, just as her grandmother had warned her.
No one at the Palace seemed to consider that perhaps a teenager—or most women entering the Royal family—could use a little onboarding. A helping hand to guide the wide-eyed teenager away from the black silk taffeta to something more comfortable—and regal—for her first event.
You can see how far Diana had come from 1981 with her 1994 revenge dress. Diana, Princess of Wales, wore the Christina Stambolian mini to an event at the Serpentine Gallery in 1994 on the same night a program aired about Prince Charles’s infidelity.
This time, she knew exactly what she was doing. Ruffling feathers was exactly the point. She was playing the game on her terms.
-Meredith
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The root of so much evil in America (Reagan, not John and Di dancing. We’d probably be in a much better place if there was more dancing)
Most of Diana’s clothing before she entered into Royal life was selected by her mother. And it was…not great.
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