Who was the "architect among dressmakers”?
Who used to say “when a woman smiles, then her dress should smile too”?
Who invented the bias cut (coup en bias)?
And who is famous for Grecian-style dresses and draping?
None other than Madeleine Vionnet.
Born in 1876 in France, Madeleine Vionnet was a figure who helped drive a fashion revolution. She freed women from the shackles of uncomfortable, stiff clothing like corsets and made soft clothing that naturally flowed over the body the hottest trend. Her path to fame was not easy. It involved plenty of hard work as a young apprentice and when she opened her own fashion house in 1912, the pressures of World War One brought many challenges. The fashion darling of the 1920s and up until she closed her fashion house in 1939 at the start of World War Two, she continues to have an influence on big names in today’s fashion world. One of these fashion giants is Issey Miyake who commented upon seeing her work: “The impression was similar to the wonder one feels at the sight of a woman emerging from bathing, draped only in a single piece of beautiful cloth.”
