Vionnet Before the Bias
This beaded dress from 1922-1923 which was offered by Augusta Auctions shows us how designers made garments that aren’t what they are best known for. This was from the house of Madeleine Vionnet of Paris whom we remember for the bias-cut dress of the 1930s, which cut woven fabric not straight down the length of the fabric as typical, but at a diagonal, creating a slinky look which can be stunningly erotic and very hard to wear as a result. I created a modern bias-cut dress once from a Vogue Pattern and realized I would never wear it out of the house. I wasn’t ready for the world to know me that well.
Vionnet’s bias-cut dresses were marvels, but during the 1920s she did what the 1920s were best-remembered for: long, flat tubes that skimmed a woman’s body, and beading that made the most of those flat surfaces. This evening gown was floor length, which tells you it was early 1920s as the evening gown hem height would be the same as the day time hem at or above the knee at mid-decade. Only in the 1930s did the evening gown dip back down to the floor.
This is made silk in cream, unlined, with short bugle beads in gold, silver and red glass bead in a geometric pattern. Such beads are wonderful when the light hits them and the woman moves. Both front and back are embroidered with beads. But glass beads are heavy and not easy to sit upon. She would have looked for a nice upholstered chair.
Notice to make clear this was an original, both "Madeleine Vionnet" was embroidered into the label AND and inked thumbprint was added. Apparently, entrepreneurial shops would create bootleg labels hoping to convince the unwary that they were selling the real thing. Yes, fashion piracy. BTW, this one sold for $90,000 when it was sold by a collection in 2014.
