All of fashions elite Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior hail from France, so its only natural they were all inspired by legendary French dressmaker Madeleine Vionnet. Youve probably never heard of her, but the queen of the bias cut is the reason we ladies no longer have to wear corsets, padding, or stiff dresses. With her dress designs, she accentuated the female form, creating the body-skimming looks we still see on todays runways. She also brought the then-unusual chiffon, silk, crêpe de chine, gabardine, and satin fabrics into middle-class closets.
The book Madeleine Vionnet edited by the chief curator of the Fashion and Textiles Museum at the Louvre, Pamela Golbin is making its way to the Wolfsonian as part of a book talk and reception this Wednesday. Golbin, who was raised in Miami and educated at Columbia and the Sorbonne, has been curating exhibitions for one of the most popular museums in the world since 1993.
Wed., Aug. 18, 7 p.m., 2010