This costume was designed by Alexander Golovine for a Princess in Mikhail Fokine's ballet The Firebird, first produced by the Diaghilev Ballets Russes in 1910. It is in the form of a sarafan, a traditional Russian loose dress and may seem very simple for a royal character, but this is in keeping with the characters in Russian folk tales on which The Firebird is based. The design is a combination of painting outlined by embroidered chain stitching.

One problem with theatre costumes in a museum context is that their condition varies greatly, unlike fashion clothes, which have usually been worn very little before being cast aside as the next fashion comes along. A theatre costume in good condition indicates that it was not worn very much and so comes from a production that was a failure, while a costume from a popular production may have been worn a great deal and be in very bad condition. Theatre and especially dance costumes, like this one, are subjected to a great deal of stress - not just from the physical movement of the performers, but also from the excessive sweat, caused from a combination of physical exertion plus the heat of the powerful stage lights; this eventually rots the fabrics and causes colours to fade.