Princess Diana’s Outfits in ‘the Crown’ Vs. Real Life

The “revenge dress,” one of the most literal recreations of a Princess Diana outfit, shows up in episode five.

In June 1994, Charles admitted to having an affair with Camilla during an interview with documentary filmmaker Jonathan Dimbleby. This is chronicled in “The Crown” in addition to “tampongate,” which refers to a leaked phone call between Prince Charles and Camilla. The call was scandalous and sexual in nature, with Charles reportedly joking he would like to be transformed into a pair of Parker Bowles’ “knickers” or her tampon.

“I’ll just live inside your trousers or something,” he said. “It would be much easier.”

The same night the documentary was released, Diana attended a dinner at the Serpentine Gallery wearing what would be called the “revenge dress” — a form-fitting, off-the-shoulder LBD by designer Christina Stambolian.

“[The original revenge dress that Princess Diana wore was] groundbreaking for those people making those dresses and making those decisions,” Amy Roberts, the costume designer for “The Crown,” told Byrdie. “[What we are doing is] honoring that. Interestingly, for us, these kinds of moments are—I always feel bad about saying [this]—where we have the least creative license. We’re honoring this because it was iconic for a reason—because it’s magnificent and amazing. And then we’ll fall down to that historical moment.”