La femenina más elegante - evening gown by Julia Virac, circa 1910-15

 

Silk taffeta, silk chiffon, and glass beading. In the collection of the Museo del Traje, Madrid.

I've found next to nothing about the dressmaker Julia Virac. Apparently she was one of the leading figures of Madrid fashion at the beginning of the twentieth century and was an official purveyor to the royal Spanish house. This gown of her creation reflects the influence of the great contemporary Parisian couturiers, the likes of Paquin and Poiret, whose own work featured, as here, a higher waistline and slimmer silhouette. But it also exemplifies the refinement and technical expertise for which, in the coming decades, designers of Spanish haute couture would become so well known.