Richard Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier, in style and manners, is firmly set in the 18th century and does not allow of radical reinterpretation. Many designers base their concepts on the original 1911 production, designed by Alfred Roller, although David Walker, in designing the opera for English National Opera in 1975, found Roller's work a little vulgar, while describing his own work as 'a bit like Harrod's best.' There was a handsome over- sumptuousness about Walker's costumes that married well with the sheer welter of words and notes that characterise the opera.

On the dummy on which this costume for Sophie was made, Walker pinned a postcard of his inspiration for the dress - Boucher's painting of the Marquise de Pompadour in the Wallace Collection. Although the white and silver fabric of Sophie's dress is ornately encrusted down the front with frills and flower and foliage trims, they never threaten to overpower the basic innocence and simplicity of the character.