The Vionnet Exhibit

I don’t know why I left it till almost the last week of its run but I finally got around to seeing the Madeleine Vionnet exhibit at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs today. It’s a good thing I did as this exhibit is definitely worth the entrance fee. Madeleine Vionnet –Puriste de la Mode as the exhibit points out has always been considered as the “couturier of couturiers”. Her body of work, which masterfully shows the bias cut, continues to influence a number of our current designers. She had very humble beginnings but was fortunate enough to have found a place with the Soeurs Callot and later on Jacques Doucet. It was during this time that she perfected her technique of draping and cutting without working with a live model. It was a revolutionary idea at that time. At the height of her business, she employed over 1,200 seamstresses, embroiderers and other specialists.

Before seeing the exhibit, I knew that Vionnet was synonymous to the bias cut but the dresses on view at the exhibit shows much more than that. Thanks to the collection of 125 dresses, we can really appreciate Vionnet’s mastery of cut and proportion. But who knew that she was also capable of a great sense of drama as can be seen in the number of her evening gowns that made sumptuous use of gold and silver thread, sequins and shiny beads. And I haven’t even gotten around to mentioning that she made use of glamorous fabrics that carried their own shine. Clearly she designed for women with a high sense of style, confidence and affluence. It’s amazing how contemporary the evening gowns still look. They would certainly not look out of place on the red carpet or some ball. They’re that beautiful! There was one particular beauty in ivory decorated with gold pailletes that I would love to have hanging in my own closet. Never mind that I probably won’t fit in it!

I tried to capture the beauty of the dresses with my camera phone but the pics I have don’t do the clothes justice. Nothing to do but run and see the exhibit before it ends on the 31^st of January!

Here, I tried to take a picture of a beautiful red lace dress with a black lace bolero ......

And here the too beautiful champagne-gold colored gown ...