Madeleine Vionnet

  Madeleine Vionnet was a French haute couture designer of the first half of the 20th century. She was born in 1876 in la province française. She began her apprenticeship as a seamstress at 11, got married at 18, lost her baby girl at 20. At the end of 19th century, she was yet an early feminist. She left her job, France and her husband and went to London while she didn’t speak english. She learnt british tailors’ renowned techniques at Kate Peilly atelier, which copied French creations. Back in Paris, she got hired by Callot soeurs, the most important fashion house at that time, and later Jacques Doucet. It was at Jacques Doucet’s atelier that she got rid of the corset. It was a revolution. Successful by her own, she opened her fashion house at 222, rue de Rivoli, in 1912. She moved out the house later at 50, avenue Montaigne. Madeleine Vionnet is considered the most influential figure in fashion of the 20th century

.Madeleine Vionnet believed that "when a woman smiles, then her dress should smile too." Eschewing corsets, padding, stiffening, and anything that distorted the natural curves of a woman's body, her clothes were famous for accentuating the natural female form. Influenced by the modern dances of Isadora Duncan, Vionnet created designs that showed off a woman's natural shape. Like Duncan, Vionnet was inspired by ancient Greek art, in which garments appear to float freely around the body rather than distort or mold its shape. As an expert couturier, Vionnet knew that textiles cut on the diagonal or bias could be draped to match the curves of a woman's body and echo its fluidity of motion. She used this "bias cut" to promote the potential for expression and motion, integrating comfort and movement as well as form into her designs.

An intensely private individual, Vionnet avoided public displays and mundane frivolities and often expressed a dislike for the world of fashion, stating: "Insofar as one can talk of a Vionnet school, it comes mostly from my having been an enemy of fashion. There is something superficial and volatile about the seasonal and elusive whims of fashion which offends my sense of beauty." Vionnet was not concerned with being the "designer of the moment", preferring to remain true to her own vision of female beauty.

 At a time women and their body were not free at all, Madeleine Vionnet unveiled them. She designed apparently simple, yet modern, luxurious and sensual dresses. Madeleine Vionnet dresses’ shape was clean enough to fit either young women or older ones.

She oversimplified dresses. Women shouldn’t have fitted their dresses. The dresses should have adapted to women curves and flattered – not hide – their shape whatever they did. All of a sudden, corsetless women breathed. No wonder why her first customers were stage actresses/ courtesans. They liked having a freeing and sexy outfit for playing on stage and seducing gentlemen. Obviously, Madeleine Vionnet’s house created great scandal in haute society. Later, she invented the bias cut that created a natural elasticity allowing fabric to draw the body shape giving a sleek and elegant look to the dress. -

Madeleine Vionnet

Born: June 22, 1876, Chilleurs-aux-Bois Died: March 2, 1975

Born: June 22, 1876, Chilleurs-aux-Bois

Died: March 2, 1975