This design was probably created for Charles Frederick Worth. It is an extremely elaborate fancy dress costume in puffed blue silk, the low-cut evening bodice laced in front and the skirt bunched up in polonaise-style swags over a very full white underskirt which is covered in elaborately gathered and puffed tulle. The lavish use of tulle in this manner was a Worth trademark. The entire costume, including a small hat and blue silk evening boots, is extravagantly trimmed with white roses and buds, and the model carries a small basket of roses.

During the 1860s, Empress Eugenie of France threw a number of extravagant masquerade balls which required the guests to wear elaborate and inventive costumes that were made up by Worth and other Paris dressmakers. Worth, a relative newcomer, became the Empress's favoured couturier at the end of the 1850s. This made him extremely fashionable, and the rest of the ladies of Eugenie's court also bought gowns from him - and so too did their husbands' mistresses, and anyone wealthy enough to afford Worth's very high prices. As a result, Worth was under great pressure to produce vast numbers of unique, one of a kind costumes and gowns, often at very short notice. This is one of a large number of similar designs and sketches that were given to the V&A as part of the archive and reference collection of the House of Worth, making it extremely likely that it was originally designed for a guest to wear to one of the Empress's magnificent balls.