Victor Stiebel was one of Britain’s best-known fashion designers of the mid-20th century. Born in Durban, South Africa, in 1907, he went to England in 1924 for his education and studied architecture at Cambridge. His enjoyment of designing sets and costumes for the university’s Footlight Revue led him to abandon architecture in favour of dress design. In 1929 he embarked on a 3-year apprenticeship with the costumiers Reville and Rossiter, and in 1923 opened his own couture dressmaking business at 21 Bruton Street, London.

Stiebel continued to produce stage dresses for several theatrical leading ladies after he opened his own fashion house. The face, with the heavily emphasised eyes, follows the tradition established by silent-screen star Theda Bara, who popularised the word 'vamp' (a contraction of vampire, which she played in one of her films) to mean a predatory female, whose heavily khol-encircled eyes were her most memorable feature.

The combination of hair and neckband throw emphasis onto the eyes and blood red lips. The bare left shoulder is balanced by the weight of the hair being also on the left, while the bare shoulder and leg, at once revealed and concealed by the fabric strips, hint at intention and concealed delights.