Woman's Dress, 1936

Object Details

Mrs. Bertrand W. Cohn

designer

Fortuny, Mariano

Description

Mrs. Bertrand Cohn purchased this "Delphos" dress in Paris in 1936. When she returned to New York, she wore it to the Metropolitan Opera with silver shoes and a diamond necklace. She later donated the dress to the Smithsonian.

The designer, Mariano Fortuny, was born in Granada, Spain, in 1871 to a family of artists. After his father’s death in 1874, the Fortunys lived in Paris and Spain and eventually settled in Venice, Italy. Inspired by his surroundings and encouraged by his family, Mariano became a painter. Fortuny's artistic interest covered a range of creative endeavors, from sculpture, photography, and interior design to stage and set design and stage lighting. His interest in dyes and chemistry led him to textile and costume design, for which he is best known today.

Influenced by Orientalism and neoclassicism, Fortuny created lush and decorative fabrics. Using a mixture of hand and screen printing to decorate the fabrics allowed him the freedom to experiment and design. His most famous design was the "Delphos," a classic pleated tea gown he began making around 1907 and continued until his death. Named after a Greek classical sculpture, the Delphos dress was a simple column of vertical pleats permanently set in silk by a process never successfully duplicated. Fortuny considered his dress concepts to be inventions, and in 1909 he patented the pleating process and the machine he invented and copy-righted the design of the dress. These dresses were meant to be stored by rolling them lengthwise, twisting them into a ball and placing them in an oval miniature hat box (we have the one that came with this dress), thus preserving the pleats and keeping the shape of the dress.

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 Originally made to be worn as teas gowns for entertaining at home, the gowns were seen outside the home by the 1930s.

This two-piece tubular cut tea gown is constructed of a finely pleated rose-colored silk. It is full length with openings at the side seams to form armholes. The wide scoop neckline has a drawstring encased along the inside edge, and there are two rows of stitching on either side of the shoulder seams. Silk cording evenly threaded with yellow glass beads with black and red stripes is stitched along the side seams and the armhole edges. The separate belt is made of rose-colored silk painted with a silver metallic pattern of trailing oak leaves and dots.

Location

Currently not on view

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Bertrand W. Cohn

1936

ID Number

CS.322625.002

catalog number

322625.002

accession number

322625

322625

Object Name

dress, 2-piece

Object Type

Main Dress

Woman

Dress

Entire Body

Physical Description

silk (overall material)

glass (beads material)

Measurements

center back: 58 in; 147.32 cm

used in

United States: New York, New York City

made in

Italy: Tuscany, Florence

See more items in

Home and Community Life: Costume

Clothing & Accessories

Cultures & Communities

Artifact Walls exhibit

National Museum of American History

Record ID

nmah_368825

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a1-8235-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa