This beautiful gown has an especially fun history. It was first made in 1982 for the Fifth Doctor serial of the nineteenth season of Doctor Who, entitled Black Orchid, where Barbara Murray wore it as Lady Cranleigh. Ten years later, in 1992, the gown was used for the Annie Lennox music video Walking on Broken Glass, where it was spotted on an extra. In 2006 the costume came full circle, being used in the episode of Doctor Who entitled The Girl in the Fireplace, where Sophia Myles wore it as Madame de Pompadour. Despite the gown’s age, it still appeared in excellent condition. The same dress used in the same show – more than twenty years later! That same year the dress appeared on an extra in Jeanne Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (Madame de Pompadour: The King’s Favourite).

In 2009 the gown was told for £ 384 at auction at Bonhams, which described the dress as:

An eighteenth-century styled full length dress of peach-colored taffeta, heavily embroidered on front with floral motif, having lace collar and cuffs, with corset on top, labeled inside with measurement details.