The Crown’s costume designer reveals key Diana moment to expect in season six

Season five of the Netflix series sees Diana, Princess of Wales, wearing the so-called ‘revenge dress’

Laura Hampson
Friday 11 November 2022 10:14 EST
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Charles suggests the Queen should be 'thrown into jail' in The Crown season 5

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A costume designer from Netflix’s The Crown has revealed a key moment that will be shown in season six of the hit series.

Season five of the series, which charts the turbulent early to mid-Nineties for the British royal family, dropped on Netflix on Wednesday (9 November).

While an iconic fashion moment from this season is Diana, Princess of Wales’ so-called “revenge dress”, one moment we can expect to see in season six will be Diana’s lonely figure perched on a diving board.

In real life, this moment of Diana on a diving board wearing a teal swimsuit happened in the summer of 1997 as she was holidaying on board Mohamed Al-Fayed’s yacht in the south of France.

In a livestream earlier this week, Sidonie Roberts, associate costume designer and head buyer for The Crown said that moments like this and the revenge dress are prepared for “meticulously”.

“So, for us [in season five], that was [the] Panorama [interview]. Then in season six it’s the diving board moment,” Roberts explained.

“Those visually iconic moments that you know you’re going to get so much attention for, you just have to get them right.”

Roberts later added that recreating the revenge dress for Elizabeth Debicki, who plays Diana in the new season, was where the costume department had the “least creative license”.

Diana sitting on Mohamed Al-Fayed’s yacht in 1997
Diana sitting on Mohamed Al-Fayed’s yacht in 1997 (Gamma-Rapho/Getty)

The revenge dress is the black Christina Stambolian dress Diana wore following an interview by King Charles III in which he admitted to having an affair with Camilla, Queen Consort while still married to Diana.

“The revenge dress is like the ultimate little black dress,” Roberts added. She explained that up until the revenge dress scene, herself and The Crown’s costume designer, Amy Roberts, had only pointedly used black for a death scene or when the royal family were in mourning.

“[So the dress] becomes quite symbolic for the moment where she chooses to wear it and it’s kind of representing the death of a marriage, the move away from the palace, and then the rebirth of this independent woman who was finding her voice and becoming even more of that legendary fashion icon on her own,” Roberts added.

The Crown is streaming now on Netflix.

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