' Even though Jeanne Lanvin was famous for her picture dresses (or robes de style), and Madeleine Vionnet was best known for her bias cut dresses, here is a Madeleine Vionnet is typically credited with inventing bias cutting. It's actually untrue. Cutting on the bias had been in use long before, typically for things like ruffles, and by the start of 1930s Vionnet Inspired Silk Wedding Dress Sweet Disorder Vintage Fashion Vocab: Bias Cut Wulfka THE ELEGANCE OF THE 1930's BIAS CUT GOWN The bias cut of material, a mode introduced in the 1920s by the French couturiere Madeleine Vionnet, was widely adopted in the 1930s and B is for Bias Cut (n.) A technique where fabric is cut diagonally across the grain, allowing it to drape more fluidly on the body; popularized by Madeleine Vionnet in the 1930s.