The role of Paola in Duel of Angels was created by the noted French actress Edwige Feuillère, for whom the celebrated couturier Christian Dior created the costumes. By 1958, when the play was presented in London, with Vivien Leigh as Paola, Dior was dead and so the costume was recreated by the London costume firm Bermans without the benefit of Dior's overseeing.
Dior cleverly retained the characteristics of the period in which the play was set - 1859 - while reinventing the period style in terms of his own New Look and the 1950s. There were indeed similarities between the looks, the fitted bodices and wide full skirts, but Dior incorporates touches that could only be of the 1950s - like box pleats in the skirt. Rather than create the tightwaisted look by full-length corseting or Dior's 'waspie' corset, the shaping structure is built into the jacket itself, using interlined seaming and some light boning, so that the illusion of the corseting is maintained while leaving the actress in relative comfort.