“The dress must not hang on the body but follow its lines. It must accompany its wearer and when a woman smiles the dress must smile with her.” – Madeleine Vionnet.

In centuries past, the natural female form has been contorted with the use of stays, corsets, billowing skirts and a variety of contraptions meant to transform a woman’s figure. It wasn’t until the invention of the “bias cut” that fabric was able to cling and flow with the movement of the body. The inventor of the bias cut, Madeleine Vionnet, was a French woman born into a poor family in Chilleurs-aux-Bois in 1876. Married at the age of 18, Vionnet moved to London where she apprenticed Kate Reilly, dressmaker to the Royal family. Over a period of time, Vionnet returned to France where she trained with Jacques Doucet, a French designer known for creating gowns adorned with translucent, pastel materials.

Vionnet eventually found her own fashion-house, even though she had been known to hate the world of fashion. She had been noted describing it as something “superficial and volatile.” Despite her intense disdain for the industry, Vionnet forever changed it by introducing the infamous bias cut, which deemed her the “architect of dressmakers.” She used very little stitching while cutting fabric against the grain. The cut was so famous and revolutionary; it was protected from imitation with a copyright, a fingerprint made with her own hand dipped in ink. During this time, copyrights and documents of authenticity was only used to protect other types of industries. Her business practices were unheard of at this time, being the first to give employees benefits such as paid holidays, childcare, doctor visits, etc.

Vionnet was inspired by the natural shape of a woman’s body found in Greek art. She believed that the personality of a dress should take on that of the wearer. With her innovative design and creative commercial strategies, much of the modern fashion industry is still influenced by her pioneering concepts. Vionnet was a trailblazer in women’s history, giving them the liberation to be proud of one’s own natural body.