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The Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave uses her hands to create a tribute to the eccentric fashion designer Mariano Fortuny.
But she doesn't use fabric.
Everything you're about to see was made from paper.
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>> We've been working on this exhibition for about 18 months now.
>> I think the hardest thing about this exhibition is that you aren't allowed to touch them.
Because they do look like fabric and it's very deceiving that they are paper.
>> It's wide pattern paper that every designer, fashion designer uses.
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>> The entire upstairs of the museum has been completely transformed, so that you feel like you're in a venetian palace.
>> The show subtitled Fortuny is an incredible encounter.
She was trained as a painter.
Painting and drawing.
After graduation, she decided as a fashion designer, and mostly a fabric designer.
So as you can see, she's bringing together her passion for painting and drawing, which is the training, with her passion for fabrics and fashion.
>> It's unbelievable.
Not only has she been able to do this in paper, but so much of it.
>> Almost 40 dresses.
And as you can see, around sort of a see-through lattice work paper, and curtains, all sorts of accessories, including jewelry and shoes.
>> The opening celebration, been in the works for quite a long time.
And there's quite a bit of buzz out there in the community.
So we're very excited.
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>> She has blazed a trail as an artist, not just in Europe, but I think with this particular body of work.
The pleats, the thousands of pleats that see here in this exhibition are inspired by the dress.
The dress takes the name from the tier of belfry, a statue in bronze.
This statue is in Greece today and has a very finely pleated tunic.
Fortuny was inspired by this Grecian style of simple dress, the tunic.
So he created a system to create stable pleats.
Of course, Isabelle has to deal with a different material.
She's not pleating fabric, but she's pleating paper.
So she has to create a fabric-like effect by using totally different ways to approach the material.
She paints with ink, she has to iron the paper to achieve the texture that she wants.
And all the pleats are made by hand in this case.
>> We'll be doing educational programming throughout the length of the exhibit.
So we'll actually have our imagination station throughout the museum open during the exhibition for anyone to come and learn about pleats and actually do hands-on types of activities.
Because pleating, of course, is a big fortuny design element.
>> It's really exciting.
People come in here and they look at them and they wonder if they really are made out of paper, but truly, they are.
As is everything in the exhibition, from the curtains to the stage props, to all the accessories, the beads on the dresses, everything.
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>> As you walk through, you'll see vibrant yellows, reds, turquoise, all kinds of different colors.
>> I love it.
In all art, there's a little madness and it's here and it's gorgeous.
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>> A world of paper, a world of fashion, is on display at the Bellevue arts museum through February 16th. 00:04:17.802, ∂∂