This jacket was designed by the prolific costume designer Cynthia Tingey (1931-2005) who trained at the Regent Street Polytechnic where she won a medal for theatre design. She began working in the theatre in 1952 and her career included a five-year period as house designer for the theatrical costumiers Bermans before its 1972 merger with Nathans, and work on West End productions, department store exhibitions, and designs for over fifty films. It was as a costume designer for pantomime, variety and cabaret that she became best known however, especially her designs for fifteen London Palladium Christmas pantomimes designing costumes for celebrities including Arthur Askey, Cilla Black, Cliff Richard and Tommy Steele. Throughout the 1950s, '60s and '70s she was responsible for the costumes for cabarets at many of the major London nightclubs and hotels, and she designed summer Variety shows ranging from the London Palladium's extravaganzas to seaside specials at Blackpool and Great Yarmouth.

The jacket was designed for a grand Ballroom scene in the 1973 Christmas pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk that opened at the London Palladium Theatre on the 18th December. It is part of the era when pantomime was an annual event and major draw at London's most prestigious variety venue. It was worn by Alfie Bass (1916-1987), the popular actor who appeared in countless plays, films and revues, and who took over from Chaim Topol as Tevye in the original London production of the musical Fiddler on the Roof in which he starred at Her Majesty's Theatre for three years, from 1967 to 1969.