Over the past six weeks, I’ve been spending hours each day processing the hundreds of facts, images, and dates as I work towards publication of my book The Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut. One of the many little “finds” in my research is this super sweet image I located in the collection at National Portrait Gallery, London. It’s rare when my research turns up an image where I know not only the person, in this case, Lily Elsie, Edwardian star of numerous musical comedies, but also, the role the costume came from, Sonia in The Merry Widow.

But the highlight for me, is knowing the name of the costume designer.  This ensemble was created by one of the first couturiers in London, Lady Duff-Gordon, who designed under the name Lucile.   As you look at these images, you can see that Lily, in her role as Sonia, wears an amazing assiut covered corselet with an assiut shawl draped around her hips and secured with a sparkling pair of rhinestone brooches.  The entire ensemble captures the worldly bohemian aesthetic of the character.  This costume is the origin point for the phrase “merry widow” used throughout the 20th century to describe a corselet.

The Merry Widow opened in 1907 had 778 performances in London’s West End. Several prominent photographers shot Lily for promotional postcards during the run of the operetta. I was lucky enough to get my own promotional postcard of Lily as Sonia from the Merry Widow, but the photographer is unknown.  Although my image is sweet, it’s not as good at showing off the costume as the National Portrait Gallery postcard.  But in either case, Lily’s costume is an inspiration.