Hispanic DesignersMariano Fortuny
 
 

Fortuny Dress and Belt Side View
Dress and Belt,1936
No. 322625.2
Gift of Mrs. Bertrand W. Cohn
Neg. No. 2000-3022

 

This dress is made of finely pleated rose-colored silk with silk cording along side seams, and multicolored glass beads threaded through the cording.

Named after a Greek classical sculpture, the Delphos Gown was a simple column of vertical pleats permanently set in silk by a process never successfully duplicated.

Avant-garde American dancers Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis wore Fortunys because of their interest in the body and movement. Originally made to be worn as tea gowns for entertaining at home, the gowns were seen outside the home by the 1930s.

Detail of Belt and Glass Beading
Belt and Glass Beading

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