Berkeley Sutcliffe (1918-1979) was one of the leading stage designers of the mid 20th century. He was best known for his spectacular and amusing scenery and for the costumes which he designed for revue, musicals and pantomimes, but he also worked for the Bristol Old Vic, creating costumes and settings for Shakespeare. Sutcliffe successfully combined theatre work with a career at the famous London department store, Fortnum and Mason, where he was head designer, and for which he devised the clock that became its symbol..

This design shows a great lady in a 19th-century ball gown but it was not made for a 19th-century play. It is a costume for Portia in a production of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice directed by Stuart Latham for the Bristol Old Vic Company. The wearer, Wendy Hiller (1912-2003), trained at the Manchester Repertory Theatre in 1930 and made her West End debut, to great acclaim, in 1935 when she appeared as Sally Hardcastle in Love on the Dole. She went on to star in numerous roles on the stage and in film and television, and was awarded a DBE in 1975.