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Madeleine Vionnet: 1930s Fashion Insights

The document discusses the lack of easily available sources on fashion designer Madeleine Vionnet and recommends two articles for more information on her work. It also lists other fashion designers and style histories the reader may be interested in if they want to learn more about female designers like Schiaparelli and Jeanne Lanvin. The document ends by asking if the reader is familiar with Madeleine Vionnet's history.

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Liyakath Ali
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15 views2 pages

Madeleine Vionnet: 1930s Fashion Insights

The document discusses the lack of easily available sources on fashion designer Madeleine Vionnet and recommends two articles for more information on her work. It also lists other fashion designers and style histories the reader may be interested in if they want to learn more about female designers like Schiaparelli and Jeanne Lanvin. The document ends by asking if the reader is familiar with Madeleine Vionnet's history.

Uploaded by

Liyakath Ali
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Much like other designers that I’ve covered for Style File Friday, there are not a lot

of easily
available sources on Madeleine Vionnet. There are out of print books available, but most of them
are over $125 CAD (secondhand). Please let me know if you’ve read any books and have
recommendations!

You can visit this article by the V&A, “Four haute couture dresses by Madeleine Vionnet” here.

Betty Kirke has a fantastic article, “Dressmaker Extraordinaire: Discovering the Secrets of
Madeleine Vionnet’s creativty” that you can find here.

If you are interested in reading some of my other Style History profiles, you can find them
below: (If you are interested in female designers, I would start with Schiaparelli and Jeanne
Lanvin!)

Dior

Balenciaga 

Schiaparelli 

Yves St Laurent 

Jeanne Lanvin

Balmain 

Are you familiar with the history of Madeleine Vionnet?

For some years Chanel lived with Dincklage in Switzerland, but by 1951 she was by herself and at
loose ends.  In 1953 she decided the time was right for her to return to fashion.  Her comeback show
was in February, 1954, and was met with a lukewarm reception in Paris, but it was acclaimed in the
Unites States.   Her company was in deep financial trouble, and an unlikely savior appeared to save
it.

Pierre Wertheimer offered to buy the business, the Chanel name, and her real estate.  In return all  of
Chanel’s expenses would be paid by the company and she would retain control of the couture house.
At 71 years of age, it was too good a deal to pass up.  It was a money maker for them all.  Chanel spent
the rest of her life in comfort, and the Wertheimers became fabulously wealthy.  The family still owns
Chanel.

This is a greatly simplified account of Vaughan’s research.  The evidence against Chanel is pretty
clear – she was not just sleeping with the enemy, she was the enemy.   While Vaughan gives a
convincing case for Chanel’s guilt, the writing is at times disjointed and hard to follow.  There is a lot
of skipping back and forth in time, and so it helps to have a good grasp of the larger events of the
1930s and 40s.
It might be easy to say that Chanel lived a charmed life, that she escaped justice and instead of
punishment, spent her later years in luxury.  But the truth seems to be that she was one unhappy
individual for most of her life.   Her lovers never stayed, but instead, married others.  Her last years
were spent in what she feared most, being alone.

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