Madeleine Vionnet
1876-1975
Madeleine Vionnet, inventor of the bias cut and draping, is one of the most admired figures of Parisian haute couture of the inter-war period, and was known during her time as "the architect of couture". She radically transformed the conception of a garment by substituting the traditional cut of fabric in the direction of the weft or weave, instead cutting diagonally on the bias. Fascinated by ancient Greece, she tried to reinvent free draping by reducing the number of seams and fastenings.
