Dress

This shimmering dress of pleated, gold-lacquered polyester gauze was presented as part of Mariuccia Mandelli’s autumn/winter 1987-88 "Freedom of Choice" collection for Krizia. Characteristic of several pieces from the season, the vertical ruffled sleeves of the dress arc into an expansive frame around the wearer’s upper torso, while the body of the dress tapers into a narrow sheath that encircles the figure in horizontal pleats. Mandelli’s fascination with pleating places her within a lineage of Italian designers that have memorably exploited the technique. This includes the Spanish-born Mariano Fortuny y Madrazzo (1871–1949) and his partner Adèle Henriette Elisabeth Nigrin Fortuny (French, 1877–1965) who set precedent with their famous "delphos" gowns during the early twentieth century, and her contemporary Roberto Cappucci (b. 1930), who has come to be known for his sculptural manipulations of fabric. Unlike Fortuny, who used the elasticity of pleated silk to hug the curves of the figure, or Capucci, who frequently utilizes the body as a departure point from which to launch a dimensional form, Mandelli combines the best of both strategies, manipulating the textile to both subvert and conform to the natural body.