Lineart drawing of a Vionnet design
For centuries, fashion (though some would assert gender politics) imposed the corset in women’s wear to achieve a stiff, wasp-waisted look. This controversial garment was often blamed for cancer, circulatory diseases, asthma, ugly children, and death. While these claims were never medically corroborated, it is still safe to say that corsets were not exactly women’s cozy wear of choice, to say the least.
This restrictive style of dress faded out at the turn of the 20th century, thanks mainly to an avant-garde French fashion designer named Madeleine Vionnet, who was a woman herself.
In the world of 21st century high fashion, the name “Madeleine Vionnet” is hardly a household word. Yet a century ago, this self-taught French seamstress revolutionized women’s dress by emancipating their bodies. She broke the confines of the traditional corset and tight-lacing gowns so the female body can adopt its own free-flowing forms and lines. Vionnet pioneered the art of the bias cut (a 45° cut diagonal to the grain of a fabric for a smoother fit), and garnered her reputation as one of the most highly regarded fashion designers of her time.
The signature Vionnet bias cut
Last month, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris presented a retrospective of Vionnet’s work with a collection of 130 gowns from 1912 to 1939. Vionnet’s signature oblique cut and draped designs saw a genuine transformation in women’s silhouettes, adding aesthetic value while liberating women from hitherto restrictive styles. She was considered a leading figure of French haute couture during the period between the two world wars, and regarded as the premier “fashion designer of fashion designers.”
Madeleine Vionnet was born in 1876 in the Loiret region of France from a modest family who later moved to Paris. At the age of 12, she learned sewing basics from the wife of a game warden. She then learned English and at 18, crossed the channel to work as a laundress in the U.K. In 1896, she was hired to work for Kate Reily, a London dress designer, where she learned her craft. Five years later, she returned to Paris where she joined one of the most prestigious couture establishments founded by the Callot sisters, and there she consolidated her confidence and skills.
Evening gown, summer 1937
Evening dress, winter collection 1938
By 1918, Vionnet had opened her first shop on the rue de Rivoli, and her success took her ultimately to a larger store front on the celebrated Avenue Montaigne. Vionnet’s avant-garde spirit was further reflected in the Art Deco décor that reigned over her couture house, which consistently attracted a more refined and international clientele.
In addition to being a visionary in the fashion world, Madeleine Vionnet was conscious of the existing social inequities in the work force. She innovated labor practices that were little common in her time. Her company offered employees health and social advantages such as paid medical and dental expenses, maternity leave, and child care.
When the second world war erupted in 1939, Madeleine Vionnet was forced to close her couture house. She was 63. In 1952, she donated her work (dresses, designs, patterns, books, and documents) to the Museum of Decorative Arts. She died in 1975 at the age of 99, but her timeless designs still echo in the work of modern designers such as John Galliano, Azzedine Alaia, and Issey Miyake, among others.
You can view a slideshow of some sample Vionnet gowns as well as order online the complete Madeleine Vionnet retrospective, featured in a beautiful and informative catalog.
For art and decoration lovers, the Museum of Decorative Arts is located in Paris’ 1st district on the Rue de Rivoli, just west of the Louvre museum as you head towards Place de la Concorde. It was founded in 1882 and houses famous collections of interior design, furniture, objets d’arts, wallpaper, tapestries, ceramics, glassware, and toys from the Middle Ages to the present day.
Bises, from Paris with love. Tammy
Photo courtesy Jean-Patrick Grumberg
Les Arts Décoratifs
107, rue de Rivoli
75001 Paris
