Carolyn McCondach was walking past Barker & Pollock in Queen Street, Auckland when she spotted the fabric for this dress in the window. It was the first time she'd seen sequin lurex knit in New Zealand and it was "very expensive". She dashed home to ring her brother, the designer Colin Cole. "How small a piece of fabric do I need to buy for you to make me a minidress?" she asked. Carolyn rushed back to buy the required one metre of fabric and asked Colin to make "the smallest dress possible". Incredibly, there was enough fabric for a hat and there was still a strip of fabric left in the box. The hat was made by milliner Gwen Smith. Carolyn wore the outfit with gold shoes to a cocktail party for the opening of Harro's Hofbräuhaus in the 1970s.