The Paris milliner Paulette made similar close-set, sculpted shapes in the 1950s. Small shapes decorated with various fancy trims were popular at the time for cocktail wear although this design from Rosco Department Store in Palmerston North could equally have been worn with a tailored suit or a sophisticated day dress.

Rosco Department Store founder, Charles M Ross, established C M Ross and Company in 1882. The trading name was initially Bon Marché, later becoming Rosco. After his death in 1927, architects Arthur Robert Allan and H R Hickson were commissioned to design a large building for the growing business. The building, which cost £27,700, is a rare example of the Chicagoesque style in Palmerston North. Its scale and location on the Square make it a landmark building. The department store’s tearooms were considered the best and smartest in the city, and many civic banquets were held at the tearooms, including the banquet for Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh during their 1954 New Zealand tour. In 1959 C M Ross and Company was purchased by Auckland department store Milne & Choyce. A decade later the business was sold to the DIC, a Dunedin department store and the building changed hands again when Dunedin retail chain Arthur Barnett purchased the business. The store was closed in August 1991 and purchased by the Palmerston North City Council to house the new city library.