It is called the Delphos, this idea, and it was born of Fortuny's admiration for classical Greece.

WSJ: The Rich Pleasures of Pleats | Fortuny | Spanish Institute | By Laura Jacobs

The ballerina Cynthia Gregory, for instance, had a Delphos in cornflower blue.

WSJ: The Rich Pleasures of Pleats | Fortuny | Spanish Institute | By Laura Jacobs

The Delphos has the totemic dignity of a strong, straight tree.

WSJ: The Rich Pleasures of Pleats | Fortuny | Spanish Institute | By Laura Jacobs

The Delphos and Peplos gowns in the exhibit are of glorious color, each more beautiful than the last celadon, smoke, persimmon, lilac and a black so black it's blue.

WSJ: The Rich Pleasures of Pleats | Fortuny | Spanish Institute | By Laura Jacobs

And then there is the strange life force of the Delphos, the way its hem pools on the ground like the spreading roots of a tree, and how the vertical pleating begins to look like bark.

WSJ: The Rich Pleasures of Pleats | Fortuny | Spanish Institute | By Laura Jacobs