Left to right:
Mariano Fortuny, Spanish, 1871-1949
Delphos Dress, 1920s
Pleated ivory silk
Gift of Mrs. Burton Tremaine 1970.c.229
Mariano Fortuny, Spanish, 1871-1949
Delphos Dress, 1920s
Pleated peach silk
Gift of Mrs. Anne Robinson Gloucester 1978.c.31
Mariano Fortuny, Spanish, 1871-1949
Jacket, 1930s
Silk velvet
Gift of Mrs. Burton Tremaine 1970.c.101
Mariano Fortuny, Spanish, 1871-1949
Long gown, 1930s
Silk velvet
Gift of Mrs. Joseph McMullan 1978.c.33
Fortuny worked with a few simple ideas and shapes, from which he drew countless variations, never creating the same dress twice. The pleated silk Delphos gown, patented in 1907, and the long gown and jacket were designed shortly thereafter. All were designs he repeated with subtle variation until his death in 1949. The numerous different dyes used for the final color of each dress sometimes as many as fifteen, made for a luminosity that responded to light and movement. Originally intended for wear in the home as tea gowns without undergarments, Fortuny's dresses relate to the modernist and Aesthetic reform movements, which believed clothing should be artistic, hygienic, and functional.
Although modern and original, these creations are inspired by Classical Greek and medieval clothing. Fortuny produced the dyes, stencils and all of the machines that made the clothing in his studio at the Palazzo Orfei in Venice. Every piece of the garment was handmade, even the labels. The Murano glass beads running down the sides are ornamental but also function as weights that conform the dress to the contours of the body.
Fortuny, a painter by training, was also well-versed in physics and chemistry. His extensive knowledge of cultures of the past enabled him to understand and reference Classical, Renaissance, and exotic elements in his work. Rejecting commercial fashion and its constant changes, Fortuny's timeless clothes have an elegant simplicity, a fineness of construction, and a sensuality that have been favored by the cultured elite continuously since their introduction. Isadora Duncan, Comtesse de Greffulhe, Lillian Gish and Peggy Guggenheim were among the influential artistic figures who popularized his work.
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