This skirt was owned by Leonie Koenitz, who was one of the first fashion models trained in Singapore at Joan Booty and Ruth Warner's Mannequin Training and Charm School, which opened in 1956. Marks and Spencer was founded in 1884 in Leeds, England. It started selling food and garments by British manufacturers under the St Michael label in 1928. The brand and company was introduced to the Singapore market in the late 1960s by Robinson's department store, which had a "St. Michael Shop" on the first floor of its former location at Raffles Place. This pencil skirt is an example of the officewear that brands carried to cater to professional women. The fitted and streamlined pencil skirt, as a wardrobe staple, is also emblematic of the growing prevalence of women in professional and executive roles in the 1980s, giving rise to the option of sharper, tailored dressing styles and the idea of the "power suit" and "power dressing".