20th Century Fashion and Designers

According to Tara Maginnis of Costumes.org, the prominent silhouette for a woman in (in Western cultures) was a thin-waisted shape created by a tightly-laced corset. She writes "The Hourglass shape of the woman of the 1890's transformed after 1897 into the "S" curve of 1897-1908. This change came from longer lined "health" corsets that supported the spine and abdomen, especially when they were over-laced by the fashionable. Fashionable women in this period seem to be leaning into a wind." As mentioned above, this "S" shape was a slight change from the hourglass shape favored prior to 1897, and it was highly influenced by Art Neaveau illustration.

One particularly influential designer of the time was Spanish designer Mariano Fortuny, who was working in France at the time. According to his biography on the Fortuny company website, He is most famous for designing the "Delphos Gown," which...
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