623 - MARIANO FORTUNY

MARIANO FORTUNY Rare "kimono" evening coat in pink crepe, decorated with stenciled motifs, 1911–1912 A rare stenciled pink crepe "kimono" evening coat, 1911–12 Bearing the Vitaldi Babani retailer’s label, “98 Boulevard Haussmann, Paris”; the dusty pink crepe is stenciled with Orientalist-inspired motifs and bands; the main body of the coat is formed from eight panels linked by striped pink and blue Murano glass beads; each sleeve is formed by four additional panels similarly linked by beads; lined in pale green silk, lined in gold/green-dyed silk, with gold rope edging and ties at the neck, adorned with silk-wrapped wooden beads, and featuring a voluminous cut Literature: “Fortuny” by Guillermo de Osma, p. 213, for a photograph of a similar robe in the Tina Chow collection, fig. 12; also a black-and-white photograph from c. 1920 of a figure wearing a similar robe, fig. 11; the same photograph is also reproduced in “Fortuny” by Deschodt & Poli, p. 92. Exhibition catalog “Mariano Fortuny,” April 19, 1980, Muse Historique des Tissus de Lyon, 1980, photo 54, for a similar garment. Exhibition catalog: “Fortuny,” Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, April 1981, p. 18, for a similar robe described as an “off-white djellaba.” The label is frayed; there is dye transfer from the green lining to the front of the robe—particularly on the front right panel, the front left sleeve, the rear right sleeve, and the rear skirt panels—along with some fading; in fair condition. Images Copyright Reserved. Images All Rights Reserved.