Costume design by Attilio Comelli for a member of the chorus in a production of Sybil at Daly's Theatre, 1921. Emile Littler Archive.

Costume design for a member of the chorus in a production of Sybil at Daly's Theatre. It shows a full length image of a woman in a costume loosely inspired by Russian 'folk dress'. She is dressed in a loosely fitting vivid yellow jacket which finishes just above her hips. The jacket is decorated with a repeated motif of roses and delicate dashed lines, these run in alternate diagonal stripes from left to right. The centre front, hem and jacket cuffs are trimmed with brown fur and the jacket fastens at the front with two loops of gold braid. She also wears an ankle length tawny, brown skirt, with a deep green vertical stripe at the centre and deep brown fur trim at the hem. Beneath her jacket she wears a high necked white shirt with a gold brooch pinned at the neck. Her hat has a stiff gold brocade brim with a dark fur trim around the top and a row of hanging bead trim below. The design is signed Comelli and dated 1921.

The borders of design are bound in a transparent gauze which is pinned in place. Beneath this guaze are two scraps of fabric, one deep crimson cotton/silk, the other gold silk. A hand drawn chart detailing the measurements of the actress for whom the costume was intended is pinned to the rear as is a further sketch showing a detail of the jacket, front and back.

Gift of the Estate of Emile Littler

Costume design by Attilio Comelli for a member of the chorus in a production of Sybil at Daly's Theatre, in 1921.

Sybil, or Szibill in the original Hungarian is an operetta with music by Victor Jacobi. The story follows Sybil, a singer from Paris, who arrives in Russia and meets an officer, Petrov who falls in love with her. There follows a case of mistaken identity in which Sybil is thought to be the wife of the Grand Duke. The Grand Duke goes along with this deception and his wife pretends to be Sybil. The Grand Duchess then becomes attracted to Petrov and the Grand Duke tries to attack him. After much confusion everyone's true identity is revealed and the play ends happily.

Comelli (1858-1925) was the house designer of the Royal Opera House from the late 1880s to the early 1920s. During this period he also worked for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and also designed costumes from a number of Gilbert&Sullivan productions.

This production of the play opened at Daly's Theatre, London on 19th February 1921.

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