Iconic Celebrity Revenge Dresses We’ll Never Forget

You might have heard of the term “revenge dress,” but do you know its origin story? Invented in the 90s, it was first inspired by an iconic dress worn by Princess Diana, who wore a smoldering black gown the same night that her estranged husband, Prince Charles, fessed up to the world about having an affair with his ex, Camilla Parker Bowles. Rumor has it that Diana wore the gown to put the spotlight back on her and detract from his headline news, earning her own front-page placement. Spoiler alert: it worked. Since then, many famous women have used the same tactic, coming off the heels of divorces and breakups. Here are the most iconic celebrity revenge dresses of all time.

Jennifer Aniston in a champagne minidress

In 2005, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt had parted ways. After speaking to Vanity Fair and saying that her ex had “a sensitivity chip that’s missing” right after she posed with Angelina Jolie in W Magazine, she looked like a fairy in a shimmering champagne minidress worn at the “Derailed” premiere. The dress hugged her curves and finished off in a fluttery knee-length hemline.

Jennifer Lopez’s sideless gown

J.Lo is the queen of showing skin, and after she split from Ben Affleck for the final time in 2024, she dressed to impress at the Toronto International Film Festival in a look that can only be described as a revenge dress. It had fully open sides, fastened by big velvet bows, and left little to the imagination, combining a revenge body with a revenge dress!

Mariah Carey stepping into her bad girl (and high-thigh-slit) era

Once a buttoned-up, innocent cutie with an angelic voice, after she split from the head of Sony Music Tommy Mottola (who was also two decades older than her), Mariah Carey entered her spicy era after the split. In an interview with Cosmo, she likened herself to a “child bride” and “prisoner,” but she got her revenge when she was a smoldering spaghetti-strapped cropped tank and super high-slit black skirt combo by Calvin Klein at the 1998 MTV VMAs.