Evening dress

The genius of Madeleine Vionnet is only truly comprehended through an understanding of the remarkable pattern pieces that comprise her designs. Her gowns, while sometimes explicitly classical in derivation, are more often an assimilation of general concepts gleaned from the study of antique styles. In this example, Vionnet takes the idea of a continuous piece of cloth and torques it into a tunic gown. There is a seam that extends the width of the cloth, but save this, the apparent two-piece garment is cut-in-one. Like the work of other designers who have explored this economy of cut-Grès, Balenciaga, Issey Miyake, and Halston-Vionnet's gowns, when unstitched and unfurled, are surprising in their Platonic geometries. Unlike traditional patterns, hers have an abstraction that can confound someone schooled in traditional pattern-making.