By Annie Brown
The famous revenge dress. Credit: AP
When it comes to fantasy scenarios, nothing can quite compare to the potency of a well-deployed revenge dress. Or at least, that's what we might tell ourselves anyway.
What is a "revenge dress", I hear you ask?
The term gained traction when Princess Diana – who, incidentally, has become catnip to the fashion set on Instagram, particularly for her on-point for right now bicycle shorts with blazer ensembles – wore a daring off-the-shoulder Christina Stambolian dress to the Serpentine Gallery Party in London in 1994.
The dress, a decidedly sexier new direction for the royal, was worn just after televised interviews of Prince Charles vaguely confessing to infidelity had been beamed around the world.
Charles was asked if he had been “faithful and honourable” to Diana during their marriage. “Yes,” he had answered. “Until it became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried.”
No surprise then that, according to her long-time stylist Anna Harvey, Diana wanted to "look a million bucks" that night.
Fashion has a lot of power when it comes to transmitting one's mood, intention or resolve. It can plain old show an old flame exactly what they're missing. Plus, fashion, or more precisely, style, can help you get out of bed when all you want to do is cry into your pillow.
As iconic fashion editor Diana Vreeland once said, “You gotta have style. It helps you get down the stairs. It helps you get up in the morning. It’s a way of life. Without it, you’re nobody. I’m not talking about lots of clothes.”
If Princess Diana gave revenge dressing its name, model Irina Shayk has redefined it for 2019.
In a time where everything is documented and personal branding is something that even very normal people think about, her recent choice of clothes seem particularly potent.
The gossip mills have had a field day in recent weeks about Shayk's first public appearance since her (admittedly still not officially confirmed) split with her partner of four years, actor Bradley Cooper.
It's tempting to show someone what they're missing post break-up, but approach with caution. Credit: Invision
First, there was the shot of her gazing out into the distance standing atop a rock in a swimsuit that made much of her supermodel proportions posted to her Instagram (where she has more than 12 million followers). But I prefer the paparazzi pic circulated around the internet in the days after the reported break-up.
In the photo Shayk is wearing a chic, utilitarian boiler suit from Burberry. A boiler suit is, of course, no longer just the terrain of mechanics but also stylish women on the go. It undoubtedly is, as Sarah Spellings for The Cut noted, "the easiest way to look good without putting an outfit together".
Which is exactly the kind of message you might like to convey should you have recently split with a partner. You know: sure, I look stylish as hell but I'm also entirely unruffled by the situation I find myself in, and also I'm very busy.
Although, there is a conundrum when it comes to revenge dressing. It can be powerful, but, as fashion is a method of expressing our inner selves and #mood, is it healthy?
Psychologist Jocelyn Brewer says revenge can be a quick-lived thing, with research indicating the idea of revenge might well be more satisfying than the actual act; the right intention is key.
It is, as Brewer puts it, in part about dressing to make people "see your value" and because you want someone, be it an ex-partner, an employer or a friend, to "feel some sort of loss in not being connected with you".
But in revenge dressing there is also an element of needing a reaction or an audience, and if it's done in an inauthentic way this can backfire.
"[Revenge dressing] is psychologically healthy when you’re rocking it out for yourself and making a choice to, as I put it, 'put your chin up and tits out', because that’s your choice and you're doing it in a way to feel empowered," says Brewer.
For Brewer, revenge dressing is best served with a side of experimentation, but not too much. Being out of your comfort zone is one thing, looking, and acting, like a whole other person is another.
What's more, as Irina Shayk could probably attest, there's nothing quite so bolstering as knowing you look great but you've also got places to be, and other things going on.