Circa 1920-1930

Venice, Italy

Mariano Fortuny printed velvet kaftan dating from the 1920s. Short sleeveless kaftan-style jacket in cardinal purple silk velvet. Silver woodblock print with small circular motifs inspired by Arab-Andalusian art, also reminiscent of Italian Renaissance Lucca illuminations. Jacket entirely piped with green-yellow printed velvet cords produced by the Fortuny factory on the island of Giudecca in Venice. Original raw silk faille lining with the famous black print on a gold lamé background indicating Mariano Fortuny Venice. No flaws to report. Very good colour and condition.
Dimensions: one size fits all, equivalent to a French size 38. Height 80 cm, shoulders 41 cm, sleeves 43 cm.

Mariano Fortuny dressed the European artistic elite. He was above all a genius inventor who drew his inspiration from design and the Italian Renaissance, with a clear Ottoman and Eastern influence. He was not only a fashion designer but also an opera set designer, interior decorator, lighting inventor and publisher of his famous gold and silver prints on cotton or velvet. He filed several patents for inventions that fuelled the major artistic movements of the 20th century, such as Surrealism and Dadaism. The cuts of his dresses and coats were inspired by burnouses, caftans and djellabas, drawing on Byzantine, Coptic and Indian styles, with a particular fondness for 15th-century Italian Lucca illuminations!