In 1977 Queen Elizabeth II celebrated 25 years on the throne. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company contributed to the festivities by staging a Silver Jubilee Season at Sadler's Wells, the highlight being a new production of Iolanthe with silver-themed designs by Bruno Santini. Gilbert and Sullivan's 1882 Savoy opera mocks the House of Lords within a tale of fairy folk and mortals who struggle with a typically Gilbertian plot contrivance that impedes the course of true love. Sullivan's music incorporates references to contemporary Grand Opera and the first production presented the Queen of the Fairies as a substantial lady in a breastplate and Wagnerian helmet, whose claim to have swung upon on a cobweb was amusingly unlikely. Subsequent productions have maintained this tradition by making the Queen into a parody of Brünnhilde who carries a long wand like a Valkyrie's spear.

Reviewers of the 1977 production were slightly disappointed that the Fairy Queen was, in the words of the Financial Times critic: 'trim of appearance, prettily dressed and not at all ridiculous'. Her elaborate silver and black costume, also held by the V&A Theatre Collections, was made by David Garrett with decorative collar and matching elements made by Martin Adams. It consists of a sequined bodice, a multi-layered skirt and a voluminous cloak, all designed to shimmer under the stage lights. Santini designed for the fairies the tiny wings of the Victorian imagination. The fairy chorus wore traditional rounded wings but the Queen's were made of piano wire shaped to resemble flames, with similar shapes in the high collar of her cloak made from piano wire, and again in the head of the wand, where they form a 'lotus' shape. The nylon net shot with lurex and edged in russia braid covering the individual 'flames' of the wand matches that of the wings and the collar, and was also used to make the sleeves and the top layer of the skirt, thus creating a strong consistent image for a strong character.