The Nouveau art era was a real breakthrough in the field of art and fashion, of course — this was the time of new interesting forms, more free, with less tightening corsets, a slightly different accent on silhouette and sometimes only with graces.

One of the iconic designers of the early 20th century was Mariano Fortuny! He was born in 1871 and is notable for the fact that he began to create his costumes from the mid-1900s, but they were not peculiar to the fashion of that time.

Perhaps, since childhood, all favored to the fact that he got involved into art! His father was a painter in the style of romantic Orientalism, and the mother was the daughter of the artist Raimundo de Madrazo y Garretta. Having had such creative genes, Mariano certainly followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He became a wonderful painter, engineer and sculptor, but decided to continue his talent in working with fabrics. After getting acquainted with Wagner, he began to work on theatrical costumes, which gave him more freedom for creativity, because he was not limited by social trends.

At that time, ancient plays were fashionable and Mariano was faced with the task of creating a costume that would embody that era, but also broadcast the spirit of modernity. He had to make the costumes not only look like antique ones due to draperies, but also allow to move freely on the stage.

Finally, Mariano created extraordinary on properties and on beauty fabric. It was pleated or pressed silk, which he also dyed himself, being a skilled colorist, he created bright colors, sometimes even resorting to the Ombre technique.

Due to the pleat and squeezed texture, fabric could stretch and return to its original position. In those days it was possible to create Tau fabric only with the help of special chemical compositions. His technique Mariano Fortuny patented and kept it the strictest secret, which, unfortunately, passed away with him and is still unknown.

Having used these fabrics, Mariano made his creation - "Delphos" dress. Basically, he took two pieces of fabric, sewed them on the sides, and along the shoulder line fastened fabric like the ancient Greek chiton or peplos, leaving slots for the head and hands. Silk was not scraggly, Mariano made it heavy on the ends with beads made of Murano glass. The result was an incredibly simple but attractive silhouette, similar to ancient Greek columns, which gave a certain grandeur to its owner.

At first, the Delphos dress was intended only for theatrical productions, but due to extravagant actresses who enjoyed these outfits much and they were allowed to wear those dresse after the perfomance at evening receptions, Delphos quickly became fashionable. Mariano began to receive orders, and he became the so-called alternative designer of the time. His clients were Sarah Bernhardt, Isadora Duncan and Natacha Rambova.

Due to the pecularities of the fabric, dresses can be stored in a twisted form.

In addition to pleated fabrics Mariano Fortuny was also engaged in stuffed velvet, which was no less artful than his chic creations. To create the patterns and the costume models themselves, he was inspired by Renaissance paintings in Venetian galleries, and to fully immerse himself in the Renaissance era, he could use metallic paints in the patterns, making them look woven rather than printed. Often Mariano combined Delfos dress ensemble with capes of velvet.

His costumes were relevant until the mid-1920s, though if to be precise, they remain relevant until now. Photo shoots with his costumes were carried out in the 1970s, and in our time they participate in films (for example, "Downton Abbey" and "Dove Wings") , advertisements or celebrities sometimes have the honor to wear his dresses.