Tunica Delphos

Long shift dress with extremely fine sunray pleating (thus named because the pleats of the fabric are arranged in the form of a grad- uated accordion) and a broad Sabrina neckline in salmon silk. The dress is taken in at the shoulders, with tiny Murano glass beads strung on an overcolour silk cord along each side seam running the full length of the shift. The dress has a silk ribbon belt with grey ramage motifs on a salmon base. This exemplar is a variant on the famous Delphos Tunic that Mariano Fortuny designed in 1907, draw- ing his inspiration – as the name suggests – from a celebrated Greek statue known as the Charioteer of Delphi. The dress was owned by Cavalier Zuliani of Padua’s second wife, Beatrice Bandinelli.

Donated by the Banca Toscana, 1983

Ph. Leonardo Salvini