Duchess Sophie’s fashion icon moment in Princess Diana-coded ‘revenge’ dress

Duchess Sophie’s royal wardrobe is one of our favourites to follow. The wife of Prince Edward has an innate way of keeping her outfit choices classic, but adding a hint of drama with a special print or a pair of killer designer heels.

As a fashion editor, I love to delve through the fashion archives, and I recently discovered this gorgeous image of the royal donning a fabulous off-the-shoulder gown in 2002.

The blonde royal, who hails from Kent, was headed to a black-tie event and donned this sumptuous black satin creation, which featured a ruched off-the-shoulder cut, showing her décolletage. The dress featured a corset and gave her a magnificently streamlined shape. Sophie accessorised with a diamond necklace and drop earrings, and teased her hair into a slightly curled style.

Sophie’s Diana-coded look

Although Sophie’s dress was of the floor-length variety, it reminded me of the late Princess Diana’s ‘revenge’ dress from 1994, as it featured a similar off-the-shoulder fit.

King Charles’ former wife made a last-minute yet iconic outfit change for a Vanity Fair party at the Serpentine Gallery that year.

© Tim Graham

Her low-cut, figure-hugging mini dress, made by Greek designer Christina Stambolian, would go on to become one of her most memorable – dubbed the ‘revenge’ dress – since her bombshell outing was perfectly timed with the release of the then Prince Charles’ candid ITV interview with Jonathan Dimbleby, in which he confessed to being unfaithful during their marriage.

Reportedly, Diana had kept the dress in her wardrobe for years after purchasing it in 1991, and was said to have thought it too ‘risqué’ in hindsight. Her late fashion stylist and friend, Anna Harvey, said in the 2013 documentary Princess Diana’s Dresses: The Auction, that having found out about Charles’ confession from previews of the interview, she wanted to hold her head high in whatever she wore that night.

“She wanted to look a million dollars. And she did,” she said of the style.

Diana liked to make a statement with her fashion choices, and there was usually meaning behind each decision. Anna also wrote in a 1997 piece for Vogue: “She rapidly learned how to make an impact… it thrilled her.”