Designer Oliver Messel collected a range of historical costumes and national dress, partly out of intereset in the subject, partly to wear. Fancy dress and masked balls had, for centuries, been a feature of social life, and continued to be so well into the 20th century. Messel was a regular guest at such functions, often wearing items from his collection.

This costume is, in fact, an original livery worn probably by footmen at the Lord Mayor of London's functions presumably in the late 19th or early 20th century but, like many liveries, the style is 18th century. The suit's severity is offset by the wonderful cut steel buttons decorating the fronts, cuffs, pockets and back of the coat and relieved by the white satin waistcoat and shirt. Messel wore the costume at an 18th century ball at the Mansion House. The elegant plainness of the suit would have made it outstanding among the extravagant dress worn by other guests.

Many families would also have played charades or sometimes put on plays. A dressing up box and raiding of the family attics would have provided most of the costumes. A note by Messel indicates that this beautiful costume was ultimately to be relegated to his dressing up box.

Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain's leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, working in every aspect of entertainment - ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue - as well as in interior decoration and textile design. His lavish, painterly and romantic designs informed by period styles, were perfectly in tune with his times and earned him an international reputation. By 1960, however, Messel's style had become unfashionable, having no sympathy with the new 'kitchen sink' school of theatre. He increasingly concentrated on his non-theatrical painting and designing and eventually retired to the Caribbean, where he began a new career designing and building highly idiosyncratic luxury villas.