It was one of the most important Parisian couture fashion houses during interwar period, established in 1912 by French fashion designer Madeleine VIONNET (French,1876-1975), who was known as the “pioneer of the bias-cut dress” and “the greatest geometrician among all French couturiers”. The house was closed in 1914 and re-opened after WWI, then closed again in 1939 at the start of WWII. It was one of the great “sleeping” brands relaunched in the 2000s. Madeleine VIONNET was born in a poor family and began working as a village seamstress at an age of 12. After a short early marriage and the loss of her child, she went to London, where she worked as a hospital seamstress and later as a fitter for Kate REILY. Returning to Paris, she worked for six years at the fashion house Callot Soeurs, where, in her own words, she was taught to make “not Fords, but Rolls-Royces.” From 1907 to 1911 she worked as a designer for House of Jacques Doucet. But her desire for simplicity, barefoot models and loose robes did not match both of these fashion houses style. In 1912 she founded her own fashion house, which she was forced to close with the outbreak of the First World War. In 1923, after the end of WWI, Madeleine re-establishing her house on Avenue Montaigne, which by that time had become the “Temple of Fashion”, and in 1925 she opened a branch on Fifth Avenue in New York City, where she worked according to the made-to-measure system. In the 1930s, VIONNET's bias-cut dresses began to dominate in fashion, and her client list included European aristocrats and wealthy North Americans such as the Baroness Robert de ROTHSCHILD, Madame CITROËN, Mrs Harrison WILLIAMS (Mona von BISMARCK), Lady DAVIS, as well as movie stars Marlene DIETRICH, Katharine HEPBURN, Joan CRAWFORD and Greta GARBO. Inspired by ancient Greek art and the modern dances of Isadora DUNCAN, VIONNET used bias-cut to create a sleek, flattering, body-skimming look revolutionized women's clothing. She avoided corsets, padding, stiffening, and anything that distorted the natural curves of a woman's body, she became known for clothes that accentuated the natural female form. It is known that she ordered fabrics two yards wider than necessary to accommodate draping, creating clothes – particularly dresses – that were luxurious and sensual but also simple and modern. Sewing a dress in this fashion house was a lengthy preparation process, including cutting, draping, pinning fabric designs on miniature dolls and recreating full garments in chiffon, silk, or Moroccan crepe on life-size models. In her models for women couturier used unusual for that time materials such as crêpe de chine, gabardine, and satin. And her most characteristic designs considered the handkerchief dress, cowl neck, and halter top. During the work of the fashion house, Madeleine VIONNET created 12,000 models, she fought for the copyright laws in fashion, and her fashion house to ensure the social rights of employees: paid holidays and maternity leave, day-care, a dining hall, and a resident doctor and dentist for her workers. But she was forced to close her fashion house due to the outbreak of WWII and she retired in 1940. In 1952, years after the closing of her house, Madeleine VIONNET donated most of her designs, including 120 dresses from 1921 to 1939, to the archives of the UFAC (today part of the Musée de la Mode et du Textile in Paris). In 1988, the Vionnet label was acquired by the Lummen family. The latter launched new perfumes – "Madeleine Vionnet" in 1996 and "MV" in 1998 – and started with collections in 2006. After several M&A transactions, the label was acquired by ChimHaeres a joint venture investment company owned by Chimera Abu Dhabi and Haeres Capital.