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Breakups didn’t do anything to deter these ladies from dressing their best. Ladies like Princess Diana and Ariana Madix have proven that living well and looking stunning is the best way to show up an ex. It’s called revenge dressing, baby!
The one that started it all! The night her ex blabbed about his infidelity to a TV audience, the Princess of Wales strode into the 1994 Serpentine Gallery Party in a daring form-fitting LBD by Christina Stambolian that showed off her legs and décolletage.
“She wore bright red nail enamel, which we had never seen her do before,” the designer later said. “She was saying, ‘Let’s be wicked tonight!’”
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Emily Ratajkowski
After leaving her husband of more than four years, Sebastian Bear-McClard, the My Body author went all out in a fishnet dress/bikini combo at W Magazine’s 50th anniversary party in 2022 — her first red carpet since the split.
Of rumors her ex had cheated, the model later said, “Duh, men are trash, ladies.”
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Ariana Madix
Mission accomplished! Vanderpump Rules’ wronged woman — whose boyfriend Tom Sandoval had carried on a monthslong affair with costar Raquel Leviss — swore that her lewk for the season 10 reunion would make her ex’s “eyes bleed.” The strappy Mônot outfit filled the bill, showing off her assets and quickly going viral.
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Mariah Carey
During her appearance on Meghan Markle’s “Archetypes” podcast, the singer revealed she’d felt “locked away” while married to her first husband, music exec Tommy Mottola.
“I was sort of, you know, given the rules and had to stick with them.” After their 1997 split, she was making her own rules, wearing a revealing two-piece dress to the MTV Video Music Awards that year!
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Bella Hadid
She shut down what could have been an awkward run-in by winning the red carpet at the 2017 Met Gala. That same night, the model’s ex The Weeknd was making his red carpet debut with Selena Gomez, but the model’s skintight Alexander Wang catsuit meant all eyes were on her!
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Olivia Wilde
Don’t worry darling, she’s fine! Weeks after their 2022 split, the director showed Harry Styles what he was missing in a sheer Dior gown over high-waisted black briefs — and nothing else.
“Got kind of dressed,” Olivia later joked of her barely there look.