V&A
Cream Silk Bias-Cut Slip with Embroidered Georgette
Great Depression · 1930s · British
Production
handmade
Material
silk with georgette inserts
Culture
British
Influences
bias-cutting technique from Madeleine Vionnet
A cream silk slip featuring bias-cut construction that creates a fluid, body-following silhouette characteristic of 1930s lingerie design. The garment displays a scalloped sweetheart neckline with thin adjustable straps and incorporates embroidered georgette inserts at strategic points for decorative detail. The bias cutting technique allows the silk to drape naturally along the body's curves, eliminating the need for darts while creating the streamlined silhouette that defined Depression-era undergarments. The slip reaches approximately mid-thigh length and demonstrates the period's shift toward more practical, less restrictive intimate wear that complemented the decade's sleek outer garments.
dressstraightsweetheartmidi
Connected To
Technique·bias-cutting
LINEAGEsame era · cross-culture · cross-category→ directed
Lineage: “bias-cutting technique from Madeleine Vionnet”
That dusty rose blouse and cream slip are both children of Madeleine Vionnet's revolutionary bias-cutting technique, which liberated 1930s women from the rigid corseted silhouettes of previous decades. The blouse's fluid drape across the torso and the slip's sinuous cling to the body both exploit fabric cut on the diagonal, allowing silk to move like liquid rather than armor.
Pull the Thread→
Follow this garment wherever the graph leads
