MADELEINE VIONNET

Madeleine Vionnet

1920's Vionnet gowns

Vionnet 1930's

The famous bias cut

Beaded Swallows

Vionnet's invention the halter neck dress

Preliminary sketch of "Vionnet"

"Vionnet" chair

"Vionnet" Chair with "Brocatelle" Cushion

French fashion designer Madeleine Vionnet (1876-1975), "Queen of the bias cut" and "the architect among dressmakers", is best-known today for her elegant Grecian-style dresses and for introducing the bias cut to the fashion world.
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.

It was her beautiful lavish bead work that inspired my design "Vionnet", I wanted to also capture the lovely satin silk in the ground of "Vionnet" that she so often used to increase the movement of her flowing gowns. Vionnet once said "designers make dresses, artists make dreams", to me her whole collection of work was a dream and inspiration from her was plentiful.

An intensely private individual, Vionnet avoided public displays and mundane frivolities and often expressed a dislike for the world of fashion, stating: "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.