“The dress must be a second skin, ready to smile when the wearer smiles”, was the phrase coined by Madeleine Vionnet (1876-1975) to fight against the rigid silhouettes that prevailed at the time and free women from corsets . Born in France and raised in England, Vionnet marked a before and after in the history of fashion thanks to her revolutionary character and her numerous contributions, which served as a turning point in the textile industry and as a precedent for the great Coco Chanel.
At just 11 years old he began as an apprentice to the trade, and when he reached 23 he began working in London with the renowned dressmaker Kate O’Reilly. Later, he returned to his hometown of Paris to work with Madame Gerber, the designer of the Callot sisters’ luxury fashion house, and later, with French designer Jacques Doucet.
It was 1912 when Vionnet decided to start her own business at number 222 Rue Rivoli in Paris, a fact that made her one of the first businesswomen of the time. There, the one who was known as the architect of fashion, opened the doors of La Maison Vionnet, where she applied innovative measures that have survived to this day, such as the bias cut (cutting the fabric diagonally so that it adapts better to the body and free it from the rigid designs of that time), for which he obtained the patent.
The outbreak of World War I forced the designer to close the doors of her maison for a while. However, far from throwing in the towel, Vionnet used this period to learn about the culture of ancient Greece through museums and art collections. A knowledge that greatly influenced the development of her subsequent works, along with her inspiration in the dancer Isadora Duncan.
Designs by Madeleine Vionnet.
The 1920s gave it its peak. In 1923 he reopened his maison, known as The Temple of Fashion, on Avenue Montaigne in Paris. It was then that he experienced his greatest fame and the world echoed his proposal to liberate the female body, with its draping and flowing, feminine dresses with bias cuts (inspired by Greek tunics), which completely eliminated structures. firm from the past The arrival of World War II, in 1939, meant the closure of her business, when Vionnet was 63 years old and she had already left a legacy for posterity that would change the course of women’s fashion.
In addition to her numerous contributions to the world of fashion, which are now studied in schools, the Frenchwoman was also recognized for her fight against imitations and her fierce defense of copyright.
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