In the ballet Swan Lake the swans are girls who have been enchanted by a magician. They only appear in human form at night. In many productions, the magician, Von Rothbart (literally 'red beard', a reference to the tradition that stage villains wore red beards), wears a costume indicating his ability to transform into an owl. Although often associated with wisdom, in many folk cultures the owl is seen as a malevolent influence and a bird of ill-omen.

Over the years, Von Rothbart has worn everything from a complete owl costume to a winged cape, or simply a full head mask. Leslie Hurry, designing the ballet for the Sadler's Wells (now Royal) Ballet in 1943, devised a headdress based on the essential elements of an owl head, but which sat over the forehead of the dancer, thus leaving his face and eyes free to express emotion. Hurry was one of Britain's leading painters before he began to design for the theatre and his roots in Surrealism made him a perfect choice for the Gothic fantasies of Swan Lake. His designs were so successful that, with various re workings, they were still in use thirty years later. This owl mask was made for a new production in 1952. By the 1970s Hurry had enough and pleaded with the Royal Ballet never to ask him to design or revise the costumes again.