Copyright ☺ Françoise Herrmann
Born in 1876, Madeleine Vionnet was a French fashion designer, credited for having invented bias-cut dresses. These were dresses cut at a 45-degree angle to the fabric’s warp and weft threads, instead of straight along the grain. As a result, Vionnet was able to drape dresses, using the natural stretch of the fabric, which enabled her to create dresses that mold women’s bodies. Indeed, Vionnet was part of a movement in the 1930s that liberated women from the corset, creating figure-hugging garments that flowed, instead of restricting women’s bodies.
Madeleine Vionnet opened her own Fashion House, rue de Rivoli, in Paris, in 1912, which she was forced to close twice: once because of World War I (in 1914), and a second time because of World War II (in 1939). Thus, she was a leading fashion designer during the roaring 20s up to the Great Depression, between both wars. The archives of her work are preserved at the Decorative Arts Museum (Musée des Arts Décoratifs [MAD]), housed in the Marsan Pavillion at The Louvre, in Paris.
The following French utility patent, FR576334A, titled Perfectionnement dans la confection des robes de dames [Improvements in dressmaking for ladies] was granted on May 10th, 1924. The patent recites an improved process for dressmaking whereby the garment’s pattern, and the fabric’s ornaments or decorations, in this case lamé, are both anticipated and drawn, prior to weaving the fabric.
This improved dressmaking process was intended to resolve several problems with the prior art. First, this improved dressmaking process eliminated the costly and time-consuming process of embroidering lamé, or adding decorations onto the fabric, after it is cut and assembled for each client. Secondly, this improved dressmaking process avoided “mutilating” lamé designs and fabric decorations, pre-woven on a bolt of material, which was then subsequently cut to the neckline, armholes, waist or hip line of a given pattern. In other words, the dressmaking improvement avoided interrupting an existing motif, or wasting fabric to get a pre-existing motif to fit the garment shape and pattern. Finally, the invention would enable garments to be easily adjusted to size and length, without cutting into a pre-existing design. The fabric decoration, lamé, or other embroidery or painting, would be created within the boundaries (collar, arm holes, waistline) of an outlined pattern, prior to weaving, thus transforming the dressmaking end-of-process—garment cutting and assembly— into swift and cost-effective steps.
The patent Figure 2 is included below, together with an image of a marketed dress. The Figure 2 depicts a cut and assembled dress with the ornamental decoration at the top, perfectly fitting the neckline and shoulder assembly points, without interruptions to the ornamental motif.
ReferencesMaison Vionnet
MAD - Madeleine Vionnet Puriste de la Mode. Catalogue de l’Exposition du 24 juin 2009, au 1er janvier 2010. Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Pavillon Marsan du Musée du Louvre.
Vionnet (Instagram)
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