Stylised Russian peasant dress for the Buffoon's wife in the ballet Chout, The Tale of the Buffoon Who Outwits Seven Other Buffoons(Chout being the French phonetic equivalent of the Russian word for ‘buffoon’) was a ballet in six scenes based on a Russian folk tale from the Urals. Essentially a satirical tale from Perm region Chout concerns a wily peasant who dupes a rich merchant, a priest and his wife. Prokofiev deleted the religious element and played up the hero’s seven foolish neighbours who believe a so-called magic whip that can restore a person to life after killing them.

The ballet had a gestation period of five years from Serge Prokofiev being commissioned to compose the score and the production was created by Mikhail Larionov and Thadée Slavinsky. It was the brightly-coloured, cubist-style set which received most praise although there were some reservations as it was so busy that that the dancers themselves were not always clearly seen. Chout was first performed by the Ballets Russes on 17 May 1921 at the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Lyrique, Paris and it remained in the company’s repertoire until 1924. The costumes executed by Maison Jove under the direction of Mme Bongard

Lydia Sokolova, who took over the role of the Buffoon’s Wife from Catherine Devillier was not happy with it for ‘I felt there was no real dancing to get my teeth into’ and she did not appreciate the music. In addition she told Richard Buckle that her costume was 'hell to dance in'.