Coat and dress, c. 1920s and 1910s, by #MarianoFortuny and in the collection of @ngvmelbourne: ”Around 1907 Fortuny embarked on the path of clothing and textile design that led to the emergence of his signature Delphos dress, a delicate accordion-pleated silk gown, inspired by the draped and clinging tunics depicted in Classical Greek statues. Fortuny’s work garnered an artistic circle of supporters, including the likes of author Marcel Proust, dancer Isadora Duncan and collector Peggy Guggenheim. Equally important in Fortuny’s oeuvre was a range of hand-dyed and hand-printed garments – jackets, coats and tunics – that were worn over his famous pleated dresses.
The full-length Coat has been cut in a simple rectangle composed of four pieces of cloth open at the front. The dark green silk velvet is stencilled with silver and gold pigment in a design of serpentine trails and floriated motifs such as pomegranates, pine cones, oak leaves and pinks. The design is reminiscent of patterns found in Renaissance and Baroque brocaded silks while the stylised pomegranate and bud motifs that dominate were recurrent Orientalist themes in Fortuny’s textiles.” #theartofdress #artofdress #fortuny
