Iconic French designer Madeleine Vionnet is known throughout the world as “the architect of fashion”. Inspired by Ancient Greece and Egypt, she created the bias cut dress, freeing women from the restrictive fashions of previous generations.
Born in 1876 in Loiret, France, Vionnet was abandoned by her mother at a very early age. Her father could no longer support the family on his income alone so by eleven years old, Madeleine was working as a seamstress's assistant. At seventeen, Vionnet traveled to Paris seeking more opportunities and was hired by the house of Vincent. She briefly married but divorced after two years, some say because of the sudden death of her infant child. Before Vionnet's divorce was even finalized, she fled to London, finding work as a maid at the home of a well respected doctor. In her free time, she would create dresses for the doctor's wife and daughters. They were so impressed with the workmanship they decided to introduce her to the owner of one of London's most popular dress shops, Kate Reily, who soon secured Vionnet as a fitter. After studying the seamstress trade for twelve years, Madeleine returned to Paris where she continued to refine her couture techniques by assisting well known designers the Callot Sisters and Jacques Doucet. She opened her own fashion house "Vionnet" in 1912.
Madeleine Vionnet started a fashion revolution in the 1920s by creating the bias cut, a technique in which the cloth is cut diagonally to the grain of the fabric, creating a sleek, free-flowing, body-skimming look. Vionnet claims she was inspired by dancer Isadora Duncan, who performed barefoot and corset-less, as well as Ancient Greek and Egyptian frescoes. When World War I ended, women started seeking more functional, comfortable pieces and throwing out their tight "belle-epoque" fashions. The House of Vionnet would dominate the haute couture industry in the 1930s, with Hollywood starlets like Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn and Greta Garbo seen wearing her sensual designs. The company grew to employ over 1,100 seamstresses and became first fashion house to sell ready to wear designs in the United States. Sadly, when World War II broke out in 1939, Vionnet was forced to close her business. However, she continued to act as mentor, passing on her techniques to a new generation of up and coming designers. She died in 1975, at the age of 99.
