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Fashion between 1930-1940

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Great innovations in fashion were seen during the Depression despite the economic hardships of the time. The abbreviated, linear forms of the 1920s quickly gave way to sinuous shapes and longer hemlines. Waistlines returned to the natural position, while remaining relaxed in fit. Designers experimented with new cuts and new materials. For evening, the bias cut gown was favored (as created by Madeleine Vionnet) in silk velvet or silk satin. Synthetic fabrics such as rayon and nylon were in common use for everyday garments.

After 1935, zippers were employed as a more efficient alternative to labor-intensive hook-and-eye closures. Indeed, in the hands of prestigious houses such as Schiaparelli they became design elements. Costume jewelry, popularized by Chanel's signature faux pearl strands, became an accessory staple. By 1938, small shoulder pads had become fashionable, heralding the shoulder emphasis of the 1940s. This, in spite of the Depression, was another grand era for Haute Couture. Lanvin, Molyneux, Mainbocher, Patou and Maggy Rouff all had active fashion houses as did Vionnet, Chanel and Schiaparelli.

The movies influenced how women dressed and what they thought about fashion.

It was not uncommon for designers such as Gilbert Adrian and Irene to make their names in Hollywood's film industry. Women clamoured to look like their screen idols. This desire prompted many Hollywood couturiers to produce clothing for the mass market via department stores or their own collections. The Hollywood phenomenon also spread to Europe. Exemplified by the white satin bias cut dresses as worn by Jean Harlow, the Hollywood look featured dramatic lines that played best to camera. The full length garden party dress with picture hat, the striking wool suit with portrait fur collar, the grand negligee - these were all part of the Hollywood in the 1930s look as well.

Written by The Vintage Fashion Guild

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Vintage Fashion Guild : Fashion Timeline : 1930 To 1940

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Great innovations in fashion were seen during the Depression despite the economic hardships of the time. The abbreviated, linear forms of the 1920s quickly gave way to sinuous shapes and longer hemlines. Waistlines returned to the natural position, while remaining relaxed in fit. Designers experimented with new cuts and new materials.

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Actor 1930s

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1930s Fashion research

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Fashion History, Costume Trends and Eras, Trends Victorians - Haute Couture

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Stylish Thirties Fashion History

In the 1930s there was a return to a more genteel, ladylike appearance. Budding rounded busts and waistline curves were seen and hair became softer and prettier as hair perms improved. Foreheads which had been hidden by cloche hats were revealed and adorned with small plate shaped hats. Clothes were feminine, sweet and tidy by day with a return to real glamour at night. Right - Fashionable sleek day dress of 1936.

Until the 1930s wealthy women had not really needed to wear practical day clothes. Although styles had been designated day styles if they were impractical it had not really mattered as long as maids took care of chores. Now women had more productive and busier lives and simpler pared down clothes gave a freedom of movement women relished in daily life. More luxurious gowns were kept for evening. New fabrics like metallic lame were very popular at night and were made to shimmer even more richly by adding plastic sequins and glass beads.

The French designer Madeleine Vionnet opened her own fashion house in 1912. She devised methods of bias cross cutting during the 1920s using a miniature model. She made popular the halter neck and the cowl neck.

The bias method has often been used to add a flirtatious and elegant quality to clothes. To make a piece of fabric hang and drape in sinuous folds and stretch over the round contours of the body, fabric pattern pieces can be cut not on the straight grain, but at an angle of 45 degrees.

It is sometimes said that Vionnet invented bias cutting, but historical evidence suggests that close fitting gowns and veils of the medieval period were made with cross cut fabrics. The Edwardians also made skirts that swayed to the back by joining a bias edge to a straight grain edge and the result was a pull to the back that formed the trained skirt. She did really popularise it and the resulting clothes are styles we forever associate with movie goddesses and dancers like Ginger Rogers.

Using her technique designers were able to produce magnificent gowns in satins, crepe-de-chines, silks, crepes and chiffons by cross cutting the fabric, creating a flare and fluidity of drapery that other methods could not achieve. Many of the gowns could be slipped over the head and came alive when put on the human form. Some evening garments made women look like Grecian goddesses whilst others made them look like half naked sexy vamps. Certain of her gowns still look quite contemporary.

There was a passion for sunbathing. Women tried to get tans and then show them off under full length backless evening dresses cut on the true cross or bias and which moulded to the body. To show off the styles a slim figure was essential and that was getting easier for women who were educated and aware as many now used contraception and did not have to bear baby after baby unless desired.

Right - Sketch of backless 1930's halter neck evening gown. Similar images are available on site via these links.

Skirts were frequently longer at the back than the front. Pleats and godets were inset into panels from below the knee and these insets gave more fullness at the hemline. The hemlines reached the bottom of the calf within a year. Some of the clothes were so stylish that they could be worn today. Part of their appeal was the draping fabric that was further enhanced by cutting fabrics on the true cross or the bias grain also quite fashionable at the start of the new millennium. You are reading an original '1930s - Stylish Thirties' fashion history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at www.fashion-era.com ©

The new improved fabrics like rayon had several finishes and gave various effects exploited by designers eager to work with new materials. Cotton was also used by Chanel and suddenly it was considered more than a cheap fabric for work clothes. But nothing cut and looked like pure silk and it was still the best fabric to capture the folds and drapes of thirties couture. Fine wool crepes also moulded to the body and fell into beautiful godets and pleats.

Left - 1930s Fashion. Sketch of a crepe day dress of 1938.

Rayon dyed well and looked similar to and felt like silk. Often it was used to make lingerie for the cheaper end of the market.

In 1927 Dr. Wallace Carothers began to research new polymers and eventually discovered polyamide. By 1938 the Du Pont company was producing commercial nylon and by 1939 making knitted hosiery. Later it was given the commercial name Nylon. Nylons were eventually available in 15 denier and these were very sought after particularly in the 2 nd World War.

Nylon hosiery transformed women lives. No more bagging and sagging of stockings and a sheer allure which enhanced their legs. The women of the era must have felt much the same as women of the sixties did later when tights gave a new freedom.

The Italian Elsa Schiaparelli 1890-1973 had a love of rich fabrics and feminine fantasy clothes that frequently had a surreal twist. She mixed with the now famous cubist and surrealist artists Man Ray, Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia. Fabric and accessories were often designed for her by Dali, Jean Cocteau and Christian Berard. She began her early career with Trompe l'Oeil effects and a famous navy sweater with a contrast cream neckline and cream bow knitted into the design.

Despite the fact that Schiaparelli had a witty side she was just the fashion inspiration that women who preferred classic styles needed. Those that loathed the swathes of pastel chiffon produced by Vionnet were easily compensated by 'Scap's' couture short fitted suits or jackets teamed with black dresses. She used colours like turquoise or shocking pink or hyacinth blue.

Beyond the little black dress which she frequently designed, she would accessorise with humour and designed funky hats made to appear as mutton chops or ice cream cones. Her eccentricity was much loved and her clothes were revolutionary at the time.

She designed a wide shouldered masculine suit that Marlene Dietrich wore and which was copied throughout Hollywood. She launched shoulder pads in man tailored severe suits long before power dressing of the 80s. It was her late 1930s tailored suit designs which were thought the most suitable clothing to embrace in the war years rather than the wasp waist bouffant dresses that were shown just before the war started.

Schiaparelli and Chanel were great rivals who both vied for top designer fame and competed hotly against each other over their perfumes. Schiaparelli's Shocking perfume in an hour glass bottle designed on Mae West's figure was fiercely competitive against Chanel's perfume Chanel No 5.

Schiaparelli fled to the USA at outbreak of World War Two and never regained her designer dominance again. She continued to lecture on fashion throughout the war years in America. She held her final fashion show in 1954. You are reading an original '1930s - Stylish Thirties' fashion history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at www.fashion-era.com ©

Schiaparelli liked new things as well as new ideas. In 1933 she promoted the fastener we call the zip or zipper. The metal zip had been invented in 1893 and by 1917 it was somewhat timidly used for shoes, tobacco pouches and U.S. Navy windcheater jackets. Her use of the new plastic coloured zip in fashion clothes was both decorative, functional and highly novel. They soon became universally used and are now a very reliable form of fastening. More Zip History

In 1936 Edward VIII abdicated his right to the throne to marry Mrs. Wallis Simpson. On marriage she became the Duchess of Windsor, but was never ever granted the title H. R. H. However they self styled themselves as Royal Highnesses and the Duke bought her vast quantities of jewellery.

The wedding day of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

Her dress was designed by Mainbocher as was the rest of her trousseau.

At the jewellery auction after her death, the pieces were evidence of great style. She continued to wear designer garments by Mainbocher and other famous designers. She was thought an icon of style in her younger days. She is also famed for saying 'a woman can never be too rich or too thin'.

Unusual Male Fashion of the 1930s

Edward VIII was also a fashion leader in his own right.

Right and left - Plus Fours of the 1930s

Here we have a photo of Edward VIII wearing plus fours.... And another of Evan my relative following a very similar fashion.

Health and fitness was an important aspect of thirties lifestyle. As sun worshipping became a common leisure pursuit fashion answered the needs of sun seekers by making chic outfits for the beach and its surrounds. Beach wraps, hold alls, soft hats and knitted bathing suits were all given the designer touch.

Swimwear was getting briefer and the back was scooped out so that women could develop tanned backs to show off at night in the backless and low backed dresses. The colours of the beach holiday were navy, white, cream, grey, black and buff with touches of red.

Pyjamas introduced as informal dinner dress or nightwear for sleeping died quickly as fashions. However the third use of them as a practical beach outfit caught on and every woman made them an essential garment to pack. They were soon regarded as correct seaside wear. The trousers were sailor style, widely flared and flat fronted with buttons. They were made up in draping heavy crepe-de-chine. Blue and white tops or short jackets finished the holiday look. These are illustrated in Sportswear Before 1960. You are reading an original '1930s - Stylish Thirties' fashion history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at www.fashion-era.com ©

In 1930 Prunella Stack started the Women's League Of Health And Beauty in Britain. The motto was 'Movement Is Life' and the League promoted the idea of a healthy mind and a healthy body. The League had thousands of members who put on huge displays in parks and other venues.

Physical fitness was seen as important in the stylish thirties and in various forms was popular across Europe especially in Germany and Austria. This resulted in some Tyrolean styles creeping into sportswear fashion which began to be more practical and actually allowed for movement. Skating skirts became shorter than ever before and in 1933 the Tennis star Alice Marble wore shorts at the Wimbledon season.

The era had begun with an economic depression which had lifted by1936 for many. At the same time the rumble of warmongering in Europe became more evident. Designers began to adjust the mood of their collections to more military inspired square shouldered clothing teamed with low heels as if sensing a need for more functional wear. By the time war arrived in 1939 European designers had shown simple clothes, trousers and sweaters and classic shirt waisters designed to stay in fashion.

One interesting facet to fashion was the brief emergence of a wasp waist in the 1939 Paris collections. Both Chanel and Mainbocher played with a full skirt and a waist, but the escapist fashion was not to be. It would be 1947 before Dior introduced his wasp waist collection that got dubbed the New Look.

This was a pivotal time for the fashion industry and lessons learnt developing methods of mass producing uniforms carried over into the ready to wear industry. In the future it enabled manufacturers to produce quality goods speedily, moderately priced, and within acceptable profit margins. You have been reading an original '1930s - Stylish Thirties' fashion history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at www.fashion-era.com ©

Hats are very helpful when dating photos as are hairstyles so try my hat and hair style sections here.

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1930s Fashion History - Stylish Thirties - Fashion History, Costume Trends and Eras, Trends Victorians - Haute Couture

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1930s Fashion History Stylish Thirties By Pauline Weston Thomas for Fashion-Era.com Stylish Thirties Fashion History The Female Form Returns to 1930s Fashion Daywear Versus Evening Glamour Madeleine Vionnet and the Cross Cut Bias Method 1930s Skirts New Ways with Fabrics Wallace Carothers Invents Nylon 1927, Production 1938 Elsa Schiaparelli The Zip The 1936 Abdication of the ...

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Cultural/social factors 1920s

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Jazz and 1920s Fashion are Forever Joined | The 1920s

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If there ever was a jazz age, it was the 1920s. You can hardly imagine a 1920s speakeasy or watch a movie about that era and not hear the constant serenade of great period jazz music in the background.

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1920s research

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Written by Tim Nash

In any era, fashion is a reflection of the times and what is going on in the culture politically, socially and economically. That influence is very evident in how post World War II society and the way culture was reacting to the new world they were living in was reflected in 1920s fashions at all levels of society.

The 1920s represented a time of tremendous social change, which was reflected in fashion as well. For women, short bobs because fashionable as did shorter skirts such as pinafores that would never have been allowed in previous decades. There was a certain androgynous look to women's fashion that borrowed from men's clothing liberally. Forward thinking designers like Coco Chanel and Jean Patou made sportswear fashionable as well as functional.

The designs of Coco Chanel were so foreword thinking that they have resonated down through the decades even to today. The bob hairstyle which Chanel innovated has returned to fashion often since its 1920s premiers. Other styles such as the small black dress, the jersey knit and a more flamboyant use of knitwear and jewelry were fashions that Chanel was able to launch in the 1920s.

Jeanne Lanvin is another 1920s fashion designer who had a big impact on the way fashion evolved in this pivotal decade. Lanvin brought into style the elaborate decorations and embroideries that we associate with 1920s fashion. These fashion statements were not limited to just women's evening wear. As the 1920s decade wore on, Lanvin's impact on fashion had made itself evident even in lingerie, sportswear and men's fashion as well.

If you reflect on 1920s fashion, there was a feeling of eccentricity and originality in fashion that is one of the reasons we associate the 1920s with exciting changes in culture. The movies and books we associate with those times often reflect a time of an explosion of frivolity and a certain amount of wild behavior in entertainment and nightlife. 1920s fashion very much fit in to those cultural changes. Jean Patou was a designer who pushed the envelope a great deal in creating exciting, fun and original outfits for women. The garments designed by Patou wearer both practical so they would hold up for a full night on the town but exciting to look at and luxurious as well.

1920s men's fashion also became much more modern, hip and interesting. The trends toward relaxing wear that was designed for youth took over 1920s men's fashions. Men in the 1920s started wearing suit jackets that were short. Pants, sweaters and tuxedo designs were similarly short and trendy. These styles fit in well with a changing culture and a time where the emphasis was on fun and excitement. And the fashion designers of the 1920s knew how to oblige.

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1920s Fashion Was a Time of Great Social Change

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Written by Tim Nash In any era, fashion is a reflection of the times and what is going on in the culture politically, socially and economically. That influence is very evident in how post World War II society and the way culture was reacting to the new world they were living in was reflected in 1920s fashions at all levels of society.

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Bibliography research

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" I admire her. I have been surging for her shadow all my life, it's tiring."
Yohji Yamamoto about Madeleine Vionnet
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Madeleine Vionnet (Madame Vionnet) was born in June 1876 and started her apprenticeship as a seamstress at age 11. After a short marriage, she left her husband and went to London to work as a hospital seamstress, where she learnt about mass-production. Eventually she returned to Paris to be trained at the fashion houses of the Callot Soeurs and Jaques Doucet. At the Callot Soeurs she learned about the bias cut. Madeleine is often credited as the inventor of that cut, which did upset her very much, because she never claimed herself that place in history! But she did expand the use of the bias cut to perfection.

Bias cut dresses

The bias cut: a diagonal way of cutting fabric in order to give it stretchability. By making dresses that could be put over the head, because of the stretching, Madeleine created garments that were both easy to get in & out of (and that was revolutionary by itself) and were comfortable to wear, something we find in tricot knits today. The bias cut made that the dresses clung to women's bodies, accentuating the natural form as opposed to 'distorting' them with corsettes and other popular (and uncomfortable) undergarments.

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In 1912 Madeleine founded her fashion house Madeleine Vionnet, but two years later she had to close again because of WWI and set off to visit Rome.

In 1919, the house was reopened and Madeleine asked Thayaht (the pseudonym of artist and designer Ernesto Michahelles) to create a logo. He also started to design textiles, clothing and jewelry for the house.

Madeleine always designed her new garments by draping on a reduced-scale doll (mannequin), which was half the size of an average body. The pattern was made afterwards by the house's premi ére (first seamstress), it was a new way of creating patterns. Normally the pattern is made before a toile (first-try) is made. Because every fabric, by its fiber and weave, reacts a little different Madeleine's dresses were not lined. If they were sheer, a separate lining or slip was supplied, and each part was allowed to go its own way.

The house was at its peak in the 20's and 30's and Madeleine's designs were inspired by Greek vases and Egyptian frescoes. She also designed 'seam decorations', decorating visible seams in star of flower shapes. Madeleine's vision of the female form revolutionized modern clothing. But her revolutionary vision didn't stop there...

Greek influences

In 1922, Théophile Bader, the owner of the Galeries Lafayette department store, joint the current shareholders in a new venture called Vionnet & Cie and a few months later the so-called 'Temple of Fashion' opened at 50, Avenue Montaigne, a collaboration of architect Ferdinand Chanut, decorator George de Feure and crystal sculptor René Lalique, incorporated a spectacular Salon de Présentation and two boutiques: a fur salon and a lingerie salon.

At the same time Madeleine Vionnet was one of the co-founders of the first anticopyist Association. To assure authenticity, Madeleine introduced fingerprinted labels: each garment produced in Vionnet studios bears a label featuring Vionnet's original signing and an imprint of Vionnet's right thumb.

In the mid-1920s Vionnet & Cie signed an exclusive agreement with Fifth Avenue retail store Hickson Inc. and a Vionnet New York Salon was opened. And in 1925 Vionnet was the first French couture house to open a subsidiary in New York: Madeleine Vionnet Inc. , a salon that sold 'one-size-fits-all' designs with unfinished hems, which could be adjusted to fit the client.

In those days, high fashion was unavailable for the poor and Madeleine, having worked as a hospital seamstress, knew some about mass production, which she used for her own label. The designs for the US wholesale were called 'Repeated Original' as a trademark name. Arguably it was the first 'prêt-á-porter ever made.

Honeycomb dress

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Handkerchief dress

In 1932, The House Vionnet acquired a new five-storey building, housing 21 workshops, producing garments, shoes and accessories, but also clinic equipped with both doctors and dentists and a gymnasium. Madeleine employed what were considered revolutionary labor practices at the time, also providing a canteen, maternity leave, paid holidays and daycare. The house of Vionnet grew to employ 1,100 seamstresses.

In 1939, when WWII started, Madeleine closed her house, never to reopen it again. She lived to the age of 99 and died in 1975.

Madeleine Vionnet is considered one of the greatest designers.

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The bias cut quickly emulated in the Paris couture before World War II, but Madeleine Vionnet's influences didn't stop there. by Geoffrey Beene, Halston, and other Americans in the 1960s and 1970s, Diana Vreeland for the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1973 and 1974. Azzedine Alaïa in France, and Japanese designers Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo in the 1970s and 1980s used the techniques of Madeleine. Mikaye and Kawakubo were alerted to Madame Vionnet by her strong presence in The 10s, 20s, 30s exhibition organized

Since 2006 the label Vionnet is in operating again. It has already employed many different designers, starting with of Sophia Kokosalaki (a 'draping genius' herself). By now Vionnet is designed by Rodolfo Paglialunga, who has been the womerswear designer for Prada for 13 years.

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The best book written about Madeleine Vionnet

"Vionnet's passion and spirit have been carried on by Mrs. Betty Kirke... Although many people were aware of the designer's greatness, researching and writing the book was a difficult task which no one had dared to undertake in the past. Thanks to Mrs. Kirke, we are able to preserve and to pass on the precious legacy of Madeleine Vionnet."

Issey Miyake from the foreward to "Madeleine Vionnet" by Betty Kirke

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This Vionnet Pattern book is written in Japanese, so advanced skills are needed to understand the patterns.

http://nl.etsy.com/listing/61691579/vionnet-japanese-dress-pattern-book?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=patronen+boek+Vionnet&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=NL&ga_item_language=en-US&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=patronen+boek+Vionnet

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Short video of the 2009 exhibition in Paris

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Madeleine Vionnet, master in manipulating fabric

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" I admire her. I have been surging for her shadow all my life, it's tiring." Yohji Yamamoto about Madeleine Vionnet . Biography Madeleine Vionnet (Madame Vionnet) was born in June 1876 and started her apprenticeship as a seamstress at age 11. After a short marriage, she left her husband and went to London to work as a...

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Dior 1993

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Bibliography research

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Masters of the Bias: How Vionnet, Kleibacker and Galliano Transformed One of Dressmaking's Most Complex Techniques

For her legendary memoir D.V., iconic Vogue editor Diana Vreeland recalled a surprising scene she witnessed one hot afternoon in a Paris movie theater: "...the lights went on, and I felt a slight movement under my hand. I looked down-and it was a cheetah! And beside the cheetah was Josephine Baker!...She was alone with the cheetah on a lead. She was so beautifully dressed. She was wearing a marvelous little short black skirt and a little Vionnet shirt-no sleeves, no back, no front, just crossed bars on the bias...Ah! Style was a great thing in those days." Succinctly capturing the mood, movement, and clothes of a specific time is the marvel of a top that Vreeland discusses, designed by master couturier Madeleine Vionnet using fabric cut on the bias.
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Fabrics are woven with a grid-like pattern consisting of warp (vertically running fibers) and weft (fibers that run horizontally) and most garments produced throughout history have done little to toy with this basic engineering. However, those same fabrics, when turned on an angle with the cross-weave hanging at 45 degrees, are referred to as being "on the bias" and possess miraculously different properties that can transform nearly any article of clothing into something else entirely. It is a technique notoriously difficult to work with as the added elasticity bias cutting lends destroys typical seaming-making hems fall unevenly-and changes the intended proportions of a given piece if not fully understood. Though it isn't uncommon to encounter bias cutting when combing through racks at luxe emporiums, there have only been three designers to date who have embraced this temperamental method and made it a cornerstone of their aesthetic and design process.

Madeleine Vionnet is considered by many to be history's greatest designer. However, when Vionnet expert Betty Kirke interviewed former employees of Vionnet's house, they insisted that she was a "technician" rather than a "designer"-a title they associated with sketching and decoration-preferring the former term to express her unparalleled inventiveness. The late Azzedine Alaïa once said of Vionnet in a 2006 New York Times interview, "She is the source of everything, the mother of us all." She is often credited with inventing the bias cut, which isn't entirely true, but she is certainly responsible for revolutionizing it. Bias cutting was used before Vionnet's time for small trims (shirt cuffs, ruffles along a hem, etc.), but she was the first to craft entire garments using this construction technique. As women made strides toward liberation at the beginning of the 20th century, they needed clothes that progressed in equal measure. Vionnet desired freedom of movement above all else, and abolished the corset years before Chanel. "I proved that fabric falling freely on a body liberated from heavy armature was beautiful in and of itself," she told Marie Lavie-Compin for French Vogue in 1974. "I attempted to bring to fabric a balance that movement in no way altered, but rather magnified."

"I was the first to use the bias cut, but only when I had my own atelier and was able to do so as I pleased," said Vionnet in an interview with Madeleine Chapsal in the 1960s. "The bias was supple, easy, and promising. I would take my muslin, and place it perfectly on the bias, then I would make notches along the bias line so as not to lose it, and the bias of the cloth led the way. It guided me." She draped exclusively on a small wooden doll carved to scale so she could render all of her designs in three dimensions without relying on a pencil and paper first. Once she was satisfied with a creation, her team would cut and prepare the fabric. If that material happened to be on the bias, it would be cut and then hung in the studio for a full week, allowing gravity to pull the fabric to its final length before being worked into a finished piece-a crucial step that, if skipped, would lead to the garment warping over time. The finished result, a timeless Vionnet, poured over the body like a second skin, highlighting the wearer's best features and eliminating her worst while allowing for unrestricted movement, a principle her future acolytes would explore and advance.

Charles Kleibacker had a rather circuitous journey to the world of high fashion. Hailing from Alabama, he originally studied journalism before a career change inspired by the majesty of couture during his first trip to Paris. During this period, he became enamored with vintage Vionnet gowns belonging to museum archives and local collectors due to their otherworldly complexity that upended everything he thought he knew about dressmaking. Kleibacker studied her bias cutting techniques with fervor, absorbing everything he could get his hands on in an attempt to understand her methods. He opened his own house after returning from Europe in 1963 and set himself apart from the rest of the New York pack in several important respects, particularly his adherence to a style of clothes that had minimal, though incredibly sophisticated construction that often relied on intricate bias cutting techniques inspired by Vionnet.

Because of his dedication to both traditional craft and the philosophy of fluid clothing cemented by Vionnet, Kleibacker preferred to produce a limited number of styles every season that slowly innovated and evolved the lines he conceived as opposed to dramatically changing course, according to New York Fashion: The Evolution of American Style by noted fashion historian Caroline Rennolds Milbank. Because of the careful engineering that went into each of his garments and the associated cost (his clothes usually sold for between $1,200 and $3,500, which roughly translates to between $9,300 and $27,300 in 2017 dollars), his business remained small, but enjoyed a loyal clientele that grew accustomed to the impeccable fit and luxe textiles (four-ply silk crepe, lustrous silk jersey) he provided. His clothes were remarkably soft, faithfully following the body for remarkable comfort, which stood in stark contrast to the hyper-structured looks of everyone from Balenciaga to Paco Rabanne that saturated the 60s. However, the properties of movement that he refined over many years foreshadowed the work of designers like Halston who would dominate the 1970s and even a plumber's son named John Galliano who would come to define the big business of modern luxury.

John Galliano is as much a student of fashion as he is a designer who has wielded enormous influence over the past 25 years. Whether it was for his eponymous line, his brief stint at Givenchy, his long tenure as the head of Christian Dior or his current position as the chief designer of Maison Margiela, Galliano has remained a steadfast proponent of bias cutting even if its inherent fluidity didn't necessarily jive with the house style of his employer. Much like Kleibacker, he is an admirer of Vionnet's work making it a point to reference her at least in passing in nearly every collection he's ever presented.

Galliano was a sensation from the moment his Central Saint Martins graduate collection hit the catwalk. His immediate success, in no small way helped by Anna Wintour's support, combined with his talent gained him intense media coverage even when his actual business was quite small. Galliano's technical drive led him to the bias cut technique, which soon became one of his favorites. He described the process, "like working with liquid, mercurial oil," for its tendency to slip and glide in unexpected ways. In one of his early shows, Galliano's Circus Spring/Summer 1997, Galliano was shown working with close collaborator and gifted pattern maker Bill Gaytten (who replaced Galliano at his namesake label a few years ago after the now infamous scandal that saw him ousted from Dior) on a Vionnet technique by which bias cut pieces were woven into a cutout, star-like shape that spiraled away from the center to form the rest of the gown. It is a mind-bending example of the craft that only the exceptionally skilled could even attempt.

When Galliano first took the helm at Dior, he introduced a silhouette that quickly became a visual indicator with the 90s: the slip dress. A slinky, form-hugging garment, the slip dress was inspired by classic lingerie designs. For Princess Diana, Galliano created a navy blue bias gown for the 1996 Met Ball which helped launch his blockbuster career. But, despite his imminent success and the positive reception of Princess Diana's gown, Galliano continued to look back on his favorite bits of couture. He revisited and reworked some of the most demanding practices and techniques, making them more efficient to execute, particularly the bias cut. Because bias cut dresses and gowns fit so snugly, seaming can become a distraction, so Galliano and his team solved this issue by concealing what few seams were present-fabric was often cut to create as few as possible-in the lines of surface applications. In that same Galliano's Circus collection, a sparkling number in sheer material had a trompe l'oeil horse's head rearing across the bust with the outline of its muscular neck doubling as a place to hide the primary center seam-a brilliant example of form and function merging.

Through several generations, bias cutting has acted not only as a way to emancipate the bodies of women, but as a way for designers to free their own creative ambition. It remains an amorphous concept that can be molded and reinvented by disciplined designers, pushing fashion into the future. So far, Madeleine Vionnet, Charles Kleibacker, and John Galliano have made their indelible contributions to the technique, but it's difficult to say if any such champions will come along again. As fashion moves away from this sense of craftsmanship and instead toward creating garments that will adorn the feeds of social media, will the dedication and skill required to execute the former be lost? And, most importantly of all, will anyone care? The community of truly extraordinary designers and the audience that appreciates them has always been small yet devoted. Let us hope it remains so.

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Masters of the Bias: How Vionnet, Kleibacker and Galliano Transformed One of Dressmaking's Most Complex Techniques - Bias Cut Technique

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Masters of the Bias: How Vionnet, Kleibacker and Galliano Transformed One of Dressmaking's Most Complex Techniques For her legendary memoir D.V., iconic Vogue editor Diana Vreeland recalled a surprising scene she witnessed one hot afternoon in a Paris movie theater: "...the lights went on, and I felt a slight movement under my hand.

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Bias cut