With my interest in Vionnet, I don’t know how I managed to miss this news but there is an exibit at Kent State University featuring four of her pieces. The exhibit is entitled Spirals & Ellipses, Clothing the Body Three-Dimensionally and is being held from September 2005 to October 2006 and is curated by Anne Bissonnette.
Those who have the Vionnet book written by Betty Kirke will find the patterns and photos familiar. However, one pattern in the exhibit was not in the book (below):
Image courtesy Kent State University Museum
The text on the website says that the pattern of design #3 was in the book but it doesn’t look familiar to me. While it’s typically Vionnet, it looks “new” to me and I’m not at work so I can’t compare my book to the exhibition’s site page.
If you are new to Vionnet’s work, the photos at Kent University’s Museum may not impress you as the rendered samples were done in cotton muslin, a notoriously unforgiving medium. Those who are familiar with Vionnet and have the book, will delight in the discovery of a new pattern (or perhaps two).
There is also an exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Musem in New York City right now, which features a few Vionnet peices.
Dr Rekha Sharma
February 22nd, 2008
3:23 PM
“Betty Kirke made these muslins, not Vionnet.”…Kathleen
If these were identical copies and attributed should it make a vast difference?
I haven’t got Kirke’s book but from your description of that and the Japanese version it is a luxury not afforded to people who live a long distance away from the exhibitions
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5 Responses to “Pattern puzzle: Vionnet”
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February 17th, 2006
2:40 PM
Hi Kathleen, the picture of the dress ( red slash and black dress) you can see at page 73 of Vionnet’s book.
February 18th, 2006
1:45 PM
You can also see a pencilled-in grid on the muslin toile of that design…
February 18th, 2006
3:55 PM
Betty Kirke made these muslins, not Vionnet. Having to draw in the grids is not a sign of superior mastery but the opposite.
February 18th, 2006
8:27 PM
There is also an exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Musem in New York City right now, which features a few Vionnet peices.
February 22nd, 2008
3:23 PM
“Betty Kirke made these muslins, not Vionnet.”…Kathleen
If these were identical copies and attributed should it make a vast difference?
I haven’t got Kirke’s book but from your description of that and the Japanese version it is a luxury not afforded to people who live a long distance away from the exhibitions