This print was used as the frontispiece to Toulouse-Lautrec's album of eleven colour lithographs, Elles, published in 1896. As the title suggests, the prints provide a glimpse into a private female world. Based primarily in a domestic setting, they are close studies of women engaged in everyday, yet intimate activities such as combing their hair, preparing to bathe and resting in bed, acts that are charged with a mild eroticism. This is reinforced throughout by a sense of voyeurism, as demonstrated in this print, where a woman is viewed from behind as she arranges her hair, seemingly unaware that she is being watched. Scholars continue to debate the significance of the gentleman's tophat, prominently positioned to the left, which could be a subtle reference to the woman's profession.