Two words: Revenge. Dress. Princess Diana’s iconic 1994 look makes a memorable appearance in Season 5, Episode 5 of The Crown.

The people’s princess is still inspiring fashion trends 25 years after her death — see: the resurgence of the sweatshirt and bike shorts combo — but aside from Diana’s larger-than-life wedding dress, none of her looks are more famous than the black off-the-shoulder gown she wore on the same day that Prince Charles admitted to infidelity on national television.

Keith Bernstein

The Crown’s costume team, led by Amy Roberts and Sidonie Roberts, put their own spin on the garment (which was originally designed by Christina Stambolian). Interestingly, it’s the first time we see a royal wearing black on the series outside of a funeral, which Sidonie notes is also quite symbolic: “It indicates the death of something and the beginning of something new,” she told Netflix. 

Diana’s phoenix-like transformation comes in a brief scene in Season 5’s fifth episode, in which she exits a car and walks into the annual summer party at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens. It’s a short clip with a big impact thanks to the little black dress seen ’round the world, which the press at the time dubbed her “revenge dress.” But it’s not a well-timed LBD that made Diana’s fashion so famous, it’s the way she wore it. 

“Princess Diana herself was so profoundly cool and groundbreaking with fashion,” Elizabeth Debicki, who plays the royal in Seasons 5 and 6 of The Crown, tells Tudum. “She was really transgressive. She really made choices that other people weren’t making.”

Diana didn’t always see eye to eye with the royal family, particularly after she and Charles split — you can see much of that in Season 5 of The Crown — but that same confidence and refusal to adhere to norms is why her fashion sense resonated so strongly with the people, and why it’s still remembered today. 

“What makes somebody iconic, fashion-wise? I always get the sense when I’m looking at photos of [Diana] that she’s dressed herself,” says Debicki. “I know that sounds like a really banal thing to say, but in the landscape of celebrities being photographed 24/7, that’s a really powerful thing to do — to say, ‘You know what? I’m going to decide what the silhouette is. I’m going to decide what the narrative of this outfit is. I’m going to speak through my clothing.’ And she really did that.”

Watch Season 5 of The Crown on Netflix now.