“Miss Tree has a genius for dress design as all of us who go to the theatre know.”

The Tatler, 1925

Dolly Tree was born in 1899 near Bristol, England but moved to London in about 1912. Artistic at an early age, she followed her mother and took to the stage during the First World War and then appeared in several British silent films, many directed by Maurice Elvey. At the same time her cartoons and illustrations began to appear in magazines and newspapers and she designed postcards and covers for sheet music. This led to a contract designing theatrical posters and programmes for Alfred Butt’s theatres.

By 1919 she finally found her forte and emerged as the sole costume designer for Julian Wylie one of England's leading stage producers working on most of his regional and London productions. This included a four year run of highly successful and profitable shows at the London Hippodrome with The Peepshow (1921), Jack & The Beanstalk (1921/2), Round in 50 (1922), Cinderella (1922/3), Brighter London (1923/4), Leap Year (1924), Mother Goose (1924/5) and Better Days (1925). The theatre historian MacQueen-Pope wrote that they "made history in their day, packed with colour ideas and stars - and novelties."

Dolly Tree’s emergence as a stage designer was part of a pattern as a new, younger set of designers including Hugh Willoughby, Guy de Gerald, Doris and Anna Zinkeisen, Gladys Calthrop and Gordon Conway all became prominent and replaced the legendary old school typified by such luminaries as Wilhelm, Percy Anderson and Attilio Comelli. The newly established craze for revue and later cabaret which blossomed after the first world war fired their imagination and provided them with a chance to express their own creative genius. With inspiration from the new modernist art movements such as cubism, surrealism and art deco, the colourful and evocative style of the Ballet Russe and the new fashion ideas of Parisian couture, their fresh modern approach found an eager and appreciative audience.

For the revue Brighter London, which ran for nearly a year in 1923 The Manchester Guardian  referred to Dolly Tree’s costumes as “gorgeous and beautiful” and added “Miss Tree’s costumes alone are worth visiting the theatre for, with their brilliant and pleasant combination of bold colour splashes.” She was also commissioned by other leading London producers and her creations appeared in such successes as The Cabaret Girl (1922), Poppy (1924), The

Punch Bowl (1924), The Street Singer (1924), Boodle (1925) and Dear Little Billie (1925)

"One of the cleverest stage dress designers and colour manipulators of today" Pearson Magazine, 1923

Dolly Tree’s varied output confirms her versatility as a designer for all forms of entertainment and she could create any type of costume for revues, musicals, cabarets and pantomimes. Besides any number of contemporary gowns and specific ensembles for dancers, this included historical type costumes for any number of periods and situations, such as ballroom dresses of the Louis X11 period; Watteau gowns in French Regency style; ruffles and periwigs of the King William and Queen Mary period ; the dainty Empire “Kate Greenaway” style of the late 19th century; the crinoline dresses of the mid 19th century and the court of Henry VIII. There were also exotic themed showgirl costumes such as the ingredients of the wedding cake; liqueurs of the world; fans;  Persian carpets;  items from a ladies boudoir table; emblems of the Empire; Mah Jongg; An Old World Flower Garden; sea creatures and fish in denizens of the deep; the living Christmas presents; shawls; roses of the world; Jewellery and beads to name but just a few.

The cabaret craze that swept London during the 1920s provided enormous opportunities for everyone involved with stage production not least of all the costume designer. Cabaret became another ideal vehicle for Dolly Tree's ingenious creations and she became associated with the prestigious Piccadilly Hotel designing the costumes for what was regarded by Theatre World as "the most sparkling cabaret show in town.” But it didn't end there, since her dresses also appeared in shows at a host of other headlining venues such as the salubrious Kit Kat Club, the Cafe de Paris, the New Princes, the Blue Peter Club and the Grafton Galleries.

Inspired by the extravagant floor shows of the New York supper clubs, cabaret took London by storm in 1921 and 1922 at Murray's Club, The Hotel Metropole, Rectors and The Queens Hall Roof and catered, as in New York for the expensive tastes of the rich. Dolly Tree was a the forefront of this new development and began by designing the costumes for The Cabaret Follies staged at The Queens Hall Roof in late 1922. Other venues proliferated but the two biggest newcomers in the West End were The New Princes Restaurant in Piccadilly and The Piccadilly Hotel. The first show at the latter was 'Dolly's Revels' was staged by Edward Dolly (brother of the famous Dolly Sisters) in February 1924 and then settled into 'The Piccadilly Revels'. Dolly Tree was house designer for about three years from the inception of the show through at least 17 editions until late in 1926 where she designed in excess of 425 costumes. She dressed a steady flow of American, Continental and British stars with chorus girls in costumes that Theatre World described as “bewilderingly beautiful and revelationary” in such scenes as  'Fragonard Girl' with dainty 'poudre' costumes in mock French Eighteenth Century style and "Hands Up"  with highwaymen complete with face masks and pistols that fired perfume at the audience not to mention the crazy antics of Hank the mule!

One of Dolly Tree’s plum assignments in the 1920s was designing the costumes and gowns for Woman to Woman (1923) one of the most commercially and artistically successful British made film of the era. This film launched the careers of  Alfred Hitchcock, Victor Savile and Michael Balcon, who were to become three of the most influential British film makers of the pre-war years. It also shattered the illusion that a top-notch production which was also well dressed could not be made in Britain.

Unlike American studios, costume designers did not become an essential ingredient in the film production mix until the 1930s and individually they never gained the star status afforded their American counterparts. Since London was bursting with creative talent, film producers and leading actresses utilised the services of various couture and costume houses and individual designers who had already made their names on the London stage. The younger breed of film makers such as Cutts, Balcon, Elvey and Wilcox tended to be more positive about the importance of art direction and costume, whilst the older, more established firms such as Ideal and Stoll were left behind by the growing emphasis on improving production qualities.

Filmed at the former Famous Players Lasky studio in Islington a young Alfred Hitchcock looked after the scenario, continuity and art direction whilst Michael Morton wrote the screenplay adapted from his play which was considered daring for its time but nevertheless was adored by the critics. Released in November 1923 the film starred the Hollywood actress Betty Compson and was a lavish and sophisticated production directed by Graham Cutts. Cutts was one of the few directors around who valued the art of the costume designer to add glamour and real class to his films. 

Dolly Tree created a stunning array of dresses ranging from exotic cabaret costumes to chic contemporary fashions. The most praised creation was the flamboyant  ostrich–feather dress that Betty Compson wore toward the end of the film which allegedly was composed entirely of over 200 ostrich feather plumes and 1,000 pearls described by the Bioscope as “one of the most extraordinary dresses that has ever been seen on the screen.” Dolly Tree also created an array of stunning showgirl costumes for the huge spectacular scene depicting the interior of the old Paris Moulin Rouge which culminated in a representation of the stage show with the print being allegedly tinted to provide greater novelty value.

Since the costumes for Woman to Woman generated considerable publicity and interest it is a possibility, although unproven that Dolly Tree created wardrobes for other silent films in the 1920’s despite the fact that no other confirmed credits have so far been found.

It is no surprise given Dolly Tree’s talent for designing not just extravagant showgirl costumes but also elegant contemporary gowns for the stage and screen, that she would sooner or later be secured by a major couture establishment as house designer. Thus, in August 1923 The Era announced “that clever young thing, Dolly Tree has been engaged by Peron now.”  Peron Ltd was a prestigious couture house established in Paris by Jean Peron with a London outlet opening in 1920. According to Billboard, as sole designer for Peron Modiste, Dolly Tree  created gowns for practically every prominent European artist.  Clearly from the fall of 1923 through to about the Spring of 1927, Dolly Tree was to design Peron’s collections for his retail outlets in both London and Paris, in an arrangement that would be flexible enough to enable her to continue designing for the stage and for her to use other fashion houses to create modern gowns when required for these productions.

“Then there is the ubiquitous Dolly Tree. I don’t know what percentage of the costumes designed per annum for the English revue stage have evolved from her untiring brain, but it must be a very high one” Theatre World, 1925.