With Madeleine Vionnet, modern style and elegance stepped onstage. The 'Queen of the Bias Cut,' she replaced the upholstered look of bustles and petticoats with flowing lines and draped fabrics. She liberated women from the torture and constraint of the corset;...
[more]With Madeleine Vionnet, modern style and elegance stepped onstage. The 'Queen of the Bias Cut,' she replaced the upholstered look of bustles and petticoats with flowing lines and draped fabrics. She liberated women from the torture and constraint of the corset; she allowed them to breathe, to move gracefully, and to claim a modern femininity based on the strength, not the weakness, of the body.
In a way, Vionnet rediscovered the female body. Influenced by the dance of Isadora Duncan, who celebrated the natural female form, Vionnet created designs that revealed the body as never before, exposing arms and even breasts to view. Like Duncan, she was inspired by ancient Greek art, in which garments appear to float around the female form rather than mold it. To promote the body's potential for energetic expression, she integrated comfort and movement into design for the first time, as well as form and cut. As she often stated, her main goal was to create dresses "that fit sympathetically to the body."
Vionnet's working life began in the Parisian suburbs when she was a mere 12 years of age. After a brief spell as a seamstress in London, she settled in as an apprentice of the Callot sisters and later of Jacques Doucet. In 1912 she opened her own fashion house, which grew over time to employ more than a thousand people. Her designs were not only elegant and modern, but slinky and sexy. Every actress, princess, and society woman wanted a Vionnet gown. By the '30s, her creations had helped polish the star images of Marlene Dietrich and Katherine Hepburn. She used materials such as cr'pe de chine, gabardine, and satin; these were unusual in women's wear, but Vionnet brought them to life.
To make her fabrics reveal form and respond to movement, Vionnet invented the bias cut. As an expert in couture, she knew that textiles cut on the diagonal could be draped to match the curves of the body and echo its fluidity of motion. She would order fabrics two yards wider than usual to accommodate draping, creating gowns that were luxurious and sensuous but also simple and modern. The most fascinating aspect of her design process was the type of model she used. Vionnet cut and designed all of her dresses on miniature dolls before recreating them on life-size models. Her work was precise, balanced, and timeless.
Vionnet considered herself "an enemy of fashion," claiming that she was often offended by "the seasonal and elusive whims" that dictated women's clothing. She did not care to be the designer of the moment, but remained deeply satisfied with her own vision of female beauty. This vision revolutionized modern clothing. Though the onset of war forced her to close shop in 1939, Vionnet acted as a mentor to the next generation of designers, passing on the principles of elegance, movement, architectural form, and timeless style.
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