[DosViolines]

I did a search, but couldn't find any thread on Fortuny.

wikipedia

Quote:

Mariano Fortuny y De Madrazo,(May 11, 1871 - May 3rd, 1949), Spanish fashion designer, opened his couture house in 1906 and continued until 1946. Fortuny was born to an already artistic family in Granada Spain. His father, a genre painter, died when Fortuny was three years old and his mother moved the family to Paris. It soon became apparent at a young age that Fortuny was a talented artist, displaying an early ability as a painter. The family moved again in 1889 to Venice. Fortuny traveled seeking influence throughout Europe, one of these people being the German composer Richard Wagner. Fortuny became quite varied in his talents, some of them including painting, photography, sculpting, architecture, etching and even theatrical stage lighting. In 1897 he met his future wife Henriette Negrin in Paris France. He died in his home in Venice and was buried in the Campo di Verano cemetery in Rome. He is famous for the Delphos gown, a gown based on the ancient Grecian style. Fortuny also created new methods of dying textiles and well as ways of printing on fabrics. He created the Fortuny cyclorama dome, a stage lighting innovation that could be used to create lighting effects such as a bright sky or a faint dusk. He also is remembered for his brightly coloured pleated gowns.

"Mrs. Condé Nast wearing one of the famous Fortuny tea gowns. This one has no tunic but is finely pleated, in the Fortuny manner, and falls in long lines, closely following the figure, to the floor."

[DosViolines]

He was quite the renaissance man, check out the official fortuny site to learn more.

Here's a picture of the man himself:


marcelproust.it

[DosViolines]

Evening gown, 1920s
Mariano Fortuny (Italian, born Spain, 1871–1949)
Pale-pink pleated silk with pink silk cord and glass beads; (a) L. at center back 47 5/8 in. (120.7 cm), (b) L. 42 1/2 in. (107.5 cm)
Gift of Estate of Lillian Gish, 1995 (1995.28.6a)

Mariano Fortuny's pleated evening dresses, often accompanied by coordinated cloaks, shawls, or jackets, were originally designed to be worn as tea gowns. That is, they were intended as "undress" to be worn at home for informal entertaining. By the 1920s, however, as styles and mores evolved, their jewel-like colors and body-conforming sensuality made them seductive evening attire. Worn outside the home by the fashionably adventurous—the actresses Lillian and Dorothy Gish, and Natasha Rambova, the wife of Rudolf Valentino, are notable American examples. The gowns were available in a variety of styles. This particular example is a relatively rare model—a simple chiton with Venetian glass buttons fastening the topline of the fitted sleeves and a cross harness. the harness is fixed and purely decorative. Fortuny, however, is known to have made functional versions with cording subject to manipulation and adjustment.

metmuseum.org

[DosViolines]

Evening ensemble, 1934
Mariano Fortuny (Italian, born Spain, 1871–1949)
Pale-blue pleated silk; L. at center back 38 in. (96.5 cm)
Gift of Mrs. Anthony Wilson, 1979 (1979.344.11a,b)

Mariano Fortuny created a number of variations of his pleated silk gowns. In this model, he combined elements of the classical chiton and the peplos. A "tunic" is attached along its neckline to a long sleeveless underdress, suggesting the apoptygma of the classical peplos. This effect is further emphasized by the handkerchief points at either hip, which would have been seen on the sides of an authentic apoptygma. In the ancient Grecian peplos, the arm openings were positioned along the neckline edge rather than the sideseam edges. This resulted in a dipping hemline at either side of the garment when worn. Fortuny took this structural attribute and achieved the similar, purely decorative effect by cutting away at the tunic's front and back hem. Further, he interpreted the buttoned or pinned closings characteristic of a chiton's shoulder seams by connecting the topline seam of the tunic's sleeves with Venetian glass beads interlaced with silk "rat tail" cording. Fortuny was noted for his antiquarian intentions and scholarly treatment of classical dress, yet in the end, he invented rather than replicated a Hellenic style.

metmuseum.org

[DosViolines]

Dress, late 1920s–late 1940s
Mariano Fortuny (Italian, born Spain, 1871–1949)
Rust pleated silk, brown and gray silk velvet printed with metallic silver
Gift of Clare Fahnestock Moorehead, 2001 (2001.702a–c)

Mariano Fortuny, the Spanish artist-designer who worked in Venice, created pleated gowns that have come to be surrounded by myth. His simplest sheath style, derived from the classical Greek chiton, was called the "Delphos." Highly secretive about the processes employed in all his designs, Fortuny left only one document related to the development of his jewel-toned gowns—a patent for heated ceramic rollers through which the silk was passed to set the pleats. The use of the rollers, however, was probably a final stage in the creation of the dresses. Photographs of his earliest "Delphos" gowns reveal a wavelike regularity to their pleating rather than the later irregular and disrupted creases that characterize these examples. It is likely that the panels of silk were stitched loosely by hand, selvage to selvage—the width of the fabric—with a thick basting thread. When the stitcher reached the edge, the needle was reversed about three-quarters of an inch above the last line of stitches, and a new row was made. This process then continued back and forth in a zigzag pattern through the entire length of fabric. At the end of the panel, the thread was pulled in tightly, creating a narrow hank of cloth that was then passed through the heated rollers. The process did not set the pleats permanently. Clients would have to send their dresses back to Fortuny to have the pleats reset if they were inadvertently dampened or if they were flattened out at the seat.

A number of fashion designers have referenced a reduced scale of the classical Greek himation, a form of cloak. Fortuny printed a velvet rectangle, intended to be worn as a mantle, and fastened the shoulder with a Venetian glass bead. Similarly, Madame Grès took a square of velvet to knot at the shoulder but also to wrap around the waist as a sarong.

metmuseum.org

[DosViolines]

Fortuny Stenciled Silk Velvet Aba
Italian, 1920s
Of dark green, gold and silver in a Renaissance inspired large scale thistle and pomegranate design, lined in taupe silk, unlabeled.
Estimate: $8,000-10,000

doylenewyork.com

[DosViolines]

Delphos dress

doylenewyork.com

[DosViolines]

Fortuny Cinnamon Silk Delphos Tea Gown
Italian, 1930s
The finely pleated sleeveless design with cord run through ivory, black and brick red striped Venetian glass beads, labeled: Fortuny Depose/Made in Italy/Fabrique en Italie.
Sold for $7,800

doylenewyork.com

[DosViolines]

Fortuny belted silk velvet jacket, hand stenciled with the lace pattern, c.1930. Label: "Mariano Fortuny/Venise.

vintagetextile.com

[ultramarine]

Im SO glad someone shares my interest on good classic designers ... I love his Delfos dress and the grecian inspiration ... that is so right now!

I wanted to create a thread but forgot. Thanks, DOS!

[DosViolines]

Fortuny silk gauze wrap, c.1920. The Persian-style pattern is hand stenciled in shades of gold and bronze. The edges are outlined with Venetian glass beads.

vintagetextile.com

[DosViolines]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ultramarine Im SO glad someone shares my interest on good classic designers ... I love his Delfos dress and the grecian inspiration ... that is so right now! I wanted to create a thread but forgot. Thanks, DOS!

My pleasure

I can't get enough of vintage fashion.
People tend to underestimate the ones who came before us,
but they were quite innovative.

[DosViolines]

Fortuny hand-stenciled silk velvet hooded cape, c.1920. Attribution" See p. 201 of Fortuny/The Life and Work of Mariano Fortuny by Guillarmo de Osma. Provenance: from the collection of Gloria Vanderbilt.

vintagetextile.com

[DosViolines]

Fortuny silk pleated Delphos dress, c.1925-1930. The belt and dress seams are marked "Fortuny DSE."

vintagetextile.com

[DosViolines]

Caftan, ca. 1930
Designed by Mariano Fortuny (Italian, born Spain, 1871–1949)
Italian; Made Venice, Italy
Gift of Courtlandt Palmer, 1950

metmuseum.org