Mariano Fortuny pleated silk and ‘Delphos’ dresses: Henriette Nigrin’s role

The Mariano Fortuny brand is closely associated with permanently pleated silk, a textile linked with their clinging yet flexible ‘Delphos’ dresses, produced in Venice, Italy from 1907 until well into the twentieth century. These silks and dresses usually came in block colours, a wide range of which were available.

Henriette Nigrin (or Negrin, 1877-1965)—the French inventor and designer who was living and working with the Spanish designer Mariano Fortuny (Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, Marià Fortuny i de Madrazo, 1871-1949) in Venice—is increasingly being credited with having developed this innovative pleating technique and iconic dress design. Comments that Fortuny made on a copy of a patent application for the dress’s pleating technique acknowledge Nigrin as the inventor of this means of creating fine and permanent pleats, which was patented in 1909. On the document Nigrin is referred to as Madame Henrietta Brassart, Brassart being Nigrin’s mother’s surname. The way in which Nigrin described her relationship with ‘Delphos’ dresses suggests that her involvement went beyond the invention of the pleating method, that she was wholly or at least largely responsible for the design.


Henriette Nigrin (1877-1965) and Mariano Fortuny (1871-1949)

Henriette Nigrin (or Negrin) was born in Fontainebleau, Paris, France in 1877. She was named Adèle Henriette Elisabeth but went by Henriette. Nigrin married her first husband, Jean Eusèbe León Bellorgeot, in Fontainebleau in 1897. She also lived in Marlotte (now Bourron-Marlotte) and is said to have been an artist’s model in Paris. Nigrin’s first marriage was terminated in 1902, the year Nigrin moved to Venice, Italy to be with Mariano Fortuny (Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, Marià Fortuny i de Madrazo). The couple, who got married in Paris in 1924, would be romantic and creative partners until Fortuny’s death in 1949. Fortuny was born in Granada, Spain in 1871 and studied to be a painter in Paris. He moved to Venice in 1889 and lived there for the rest of his life, while maintaining his Spanish nationality. As well as being a painter, the multi-talented Fortuny was, amongst other things, a lighting engineer and set designer, but he remains best known as a textiles and fashion designer, whose garments were popular with wealthy avant-garde women in places including Italy, France, and the United States from around 1910 to the 1930s. Clients included French stage actor Sarah Bernhardt and Isadora Duncan, a dancer from the United States. Nigrin is increasingly recognised to have played an important part in designing these textiles and garments, the ‘Delphos’ in particular.


Note: In July 2023 the catalogue records for the pleated silk Mariano Fortuny textiles in the V&A collection were updated to incorporate recent research on Henriette Nigrin. Prior to this, these textiles were catalogued as designed by Mariano Fortuny.