Vionnet, Madeleine (1876-1975)

Dates

• Existence: 1876-1975

Biography

Madeleine Vionnet was called the "Queen of the bias cut" and "the architect among dressmakers," She is best-known today for her elegant Grecian-style dresses and for introducing the bias cut to the fashion world. Born in June 22, 1876 into a poor family in Chilleur-aux-Bois, Loiret, she began her apprenticeship as a seamstress at age 11. After a brief marriage at age 18, she left her husband and went to London to work as a hospital seamstress. She eventually returned to Paris and trained with the well known fashion house Callot Soeurs and later with Jacques Doucet.

In 1912 she founded her own fashion house, "Vionnet", for a short time just before World War I. The House of Vionnet grew to employ over 1,100 seamstresses and was the first fashion house to create ready to wear (prêt-à-porter) designs from haute couture for sale in the United States. In 1922 Vionnet's extravagant designs were inspired by Greek vases and Egyptian frescoes. She invents a "bias" cut to make dresses that fit tightly at the waist and flare out into a bell-shape skirt. She designed "seam decorations" decorating visible seams in star or flower shapes in 1925.

With her bias cut clothes, Vionnet dominated haute couture in the 1930s setting trends with her sensual gowns. Vionnet's vision of the female form revolutionized modern clothing and the success of her unique cuts assured her reputation. She fought for copyright laws in fashion and employed what were considered revolutionary labor practices at the time - paid holidays and maternity leave, day-care, a dining hall, a resident doctor and dentist. In 1939 Madeleine Vionnet is awarded the Legion d'Honneur, France's highest honour. Vionnet closed her house when the Second world war started but did not reopen after the war. She lived to the age of 98 and died in 1975.

Until the end of her life, she continued to monitor and comment on haute couture, whose artistry she had done so much for and where she is remembered as one of the greatest designers of all time. Vionnet employed several talented illustrators including Thayaht who drew Vionnet's gowns, which were published in the Paris fashion magazine "Gazette du Bon Ton".

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