Chaumont

Marcelle (1881-1990). French dressmaker. She anticipated the advent of prêt-à-porter, signing an agreement with the department store Bon Marché towards the end of the 1940s. To avoid expulsion from the Chambre Syndicale de la haute Couture, which would never forgive such a decision, she asked a friend, Juliette Verneil, to represent her in the deal. After few years, illness forced her to retire. Her history is above all that of a great talent discovered by Madeleine Vionnet at the start her own career, in 1912. Until the outbreak of World War II, Marcelle, notwithstanding the fact that she was considered more talented than her boss in cutting on the bias, remained with her. She started her own business only because the Vionnet maison decided to close during the Nazi occupation.