This outfit is typical of the late 1960s. During this period, designers were often reinterpreting smart women’s wear like the suit in youthful styles by using unconventional textiles. This jacket and skirt were hand-knitted in a wide rib pattern. The knitter created the interesting shaggy texture of the polo neck and cuffs by using a loop stitch called, appropriately, 'poodle stitch'. The hip-length jacket fastens with plastic buttons down the left side, while the fashionable mini skirt has an elasticated waist.

Sally Levison (1923 – 2006) was an innovative knitwear designer based in the island of Gozo, Malta. Levison began her career as a buyer for retail outlets in the Isle of Wight and London in the early 1960s. Noticing that knitwear was a popular product for retail outlets at the time, Levison had the idea to reinterpret high fashion fabric looks as knitted or crocheted designs. As the looks she hoped to achieve were difficult to realise with the machinery then available, she developed ways to produce them by hand-knitting. After finding two business partners to help realise her ideas, Levison set up a small premises in Gozo in 1968.

Levison’s designs were initially sold from her showroom in Mortimer Street, London, in the late 1960s. They quickly gained international success and were sold to customers in France, Italy, Spain, Finland and the USA. She was responsible for helping popularise co-ordinated and mix-and-match outfits, with designs fitting in with the contemporary vogue for hand-knitted, close-fitting clothes in the early 1970s. They were frequently featured in Vogue magazine and other publications.