HUGE EDIT: someone let me know in the comments that the designer of the Delphos dress was actually Henriette Nigrin, Fortuny’s wife. The original name in the patent was hers. I am starting to think we should look at the wife of every so-called inventor, artist and discoverer in history to see if she was behind the work, or at minimum was co-creator of the work, while he took all the credit.

I won’t erase the original text so you can see what’s the ‘official story’. I actually read there is a documentary recently made in Spain about Henriette and her role in the Delphos dress, and the rest of Fortuny’s fashion brand. One thing said in the article (from El País) that makes so much sense is that any fashion innovation that freed women’s bodies and took in their comfort had to come from a woman who actually wore women’s clothing (exactly what Chanel did, too), and that’s a giveaway that it wasn’t his idea.

What follows is a part of the original note:

In 1909, Mariano Fortuny created his first Delphos: a finely pleated silk dress inspired by the Greek chiton of the Charioteer of Delphos (last picture), a bronze sculpture from the 5th century BCE. He kept the pleating technique a secret, as well as the recipes for the dyes he used, which are still unknown today.

Besides the beautiful design, the dress was revolutionary in other ways: it freed women from corsets, and allowed free movement. The Delphos, with its simple, elegant lines became an icon in the 1920s. Every Delphos is the same, but the dying and pleating process made every dress unique at the same time.