"The dresses were formed from narrow lengths of the finest Japanese silk, hand-stitched together and then pleated into rills like the delicate underside of a field mushroom through a process involving heat, ceramic rollers and water, to create a shimmering, clinging tube of impossible lightness and loveliness that pooled at the feet and that was Grecian in both form and intent.
Murano glass beads suspended on strings of twisted silk dot the shoulders and seams and weight the skirts to stop their fluttering, while the pleats skim the swell of stomach and curve of hips in a heavenly palette: crushed marigold, Tiepolo pink, silver-grey, teal, salmon, pale blue, ivory and black. The most expensive are dusted with gold; stencilled with Greek key patterns and medieval fleur-de-lys."
Fortuny's* Delphos gowns as described by Claire Wilcox in Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes.
*But as recent research shows, Mariano Fortuny was not solely - or even largely - responsible for these dresses!
(This old post has more pictures).
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