Madeleine Vionnet

Vionnet was forced to close her house again in 1939 at the start of the Second World War and she retired in 1940. Called "perhaps the greatest geometrician among all French couturiers" in 1925 British Vogue, Vionnet is best known today for her elegant Grecian-style dresses and for popularising the bias cut within the fashion world and is credited with inspiring a number of recent designers.

Born on 22 June 1876 into a poor family in Chilleurs-aux-Bois, Loiret, Vionnet's parents separated when she was very young and she moved with her father, a toll collector, to Aubervilliers, Seine-Saint-Denis, at the age of five. Having already left school, Vionnet began her apprenticeship at age twelve as a seamstress alongside members of the garde champêtre. After a brief marriage at age 18 – and the loss of her young child – she left her husband and went to London to work as a hospital seamstress. While in London, Vionnet worked as a fitter for Kate Reily. Vionnet eventually returned to Paris, working for six years in the fashion house Callot Soeurs as a toile maker. After a disagreement with a manager of the house, Vionnet threatened to leave her post. She was convinced to stay by the eldest of the Callot sisters, Marie Callot Gerber, after being offered a promotion that would mean improvising draped designs on a live model with Gerber herself. Vionnet later praised Marie Callot Gerber as "a great lady" and later remarked that "without the example of the Callot Soeurs, I would have continued to make Fords. It is because of them that I have been able to make Rolls-Royces". Her desire for simplicity was ultimately at odds with the characteristic lacy frills of the fashion house. Vionnet designed for Jacques Doucet between 1907 and 1911. Her use of barefoot models and design of loose robes clashed with the style of the house. In 1912 she founded her own fashion house, "Vionnet", which closed in 1914 owing to the beginning of the First World War. Re-establishing the house in 1923, Vionnet opened new premises on Avenue Montaigne, which became known as the "Temple of Fashion". In 1925, Vionnet's fashion house expanded with premises on Fifth Avenue in New York City. She sold designs purchased off the peg and adapted to the wearer. Vionnet's bias cut clothes dominated haute couture in the 1930s, setting trends with her sensual gowns worn by such internationally known actresses as Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn, Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo. Her loyal clients included mainly European aristocrats and wealthy North Americans such as the Baroness Robert de Rothschild, Madame Citroën, Mrs Harrison Williams (Mona von Bismarck) and Lady Davis. Vionnet's vision of the female form revolutionized modern clothing, and the success of her unique cuts assured her reputation. She fought for copyright laws in fashion. She instituted what, at the time, were considered revolutionary labor practices: paid holidays and maternity leave, day-care, a dining hall, and a resident doctor and dentist for her workers. The onset of World War II forced Vionnet to close her fashion house in 1939, and she retired in 1940. Vionnet created some 12,000 garments over the course of her career. An intensely private individual, Vionnet avoided public displays and mundane frivolities. Despite her success as a designer, she expressed dislike for the world of fashion, stating: "Insofar as one can talk of a Vionnet school, it comes mostly from my having been an enemy of fashion. 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.