[2] Called "perhaps the greatest geometrician among all French couturiers" in 1925 British Vogue, Vionnet is best known today for her elegant Grecian-style dresses and for popularising the bias cut within the fashion world and is credited with inspiring a number of recent designers.

[2] Born on 22 June 1876[3] into a poor family in Chilleurs-aux-Bois, Loiret, Vionnet's parents separated when she was very young and she moved with her father, a toll collector, to Aubervilliers at the age of five.

[6] Vionnet's bias cut clothes dominated haute couture in the 1930s,[11] setting trends with her sensual gowns worn by such internationally known actresses as Marlene Dietrich,[12] Katharine Hepburn, Joan Crawford[13] and Greta Garbo.

[12] Her loyal clients included mainly European aristocrats and wealthy North Americans such as the Baroness Robert de Rothschild, Madame Citroën, Mrs Harrison Williams (Mona von Bismarck) and Lady Davis.

She instituted what, at the time, were considered revolutionary labor practices: paid holidays and maternity leave, day-care, a dining hall, and a resident doctor and dentist for her workers.

[17] Vionnet's use of the bias cut to create a sleek, flattering, body-skimming look revolutionized women's clothing and carried her to the top of the fashion world.

[9] As an expert couturier, Vionnet knew that textiles cut on the bias could be draped to match the curves of a woman's body and express fluidity of motion.

Vionnet's apparently simple styles involved a lengthy preparation process, including cutting, draping, and pinning fabric designs on miniature dolls.

Vionnet used materials such as crêpe de chine, gabardine, and satin to make her clothes; fabrics that were unusual in women's fashion of the 1920s and 30s.

Both her bias cut and her urbanely sensual approach to couture remain a strong and pervasive influence on contemporary fashion, as evidenced by the collections of such past and present-day designers as Ossie Clark, Halston, John Galliano, Comme des Garçons, Azzedine Alaia, Issey Miyake and Marchesa.

Miyake once remarked that on seeing Vionnet's work for the first time, "the impression was similar to the wonder one feels at the sight of a woman emerging from bathing, draped only in a single piece of beautiful cloth.