The mission of Vionnette
 - a note from our founder -
The purpose of Vionnette is simple: to bring the rarest and most exquisite wedding dresses to those who appreciate their unique beauty. Everything I do for Vionnette, I do to honor my grandmother, Alice, whom I loved more than anyone in the world. (She is pictured at far right in both images above.)
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I grew up with Alice, who was a seamstress in a bridal shop that was owned by a distant relative. I can’t remember a time when I did not love wedding dresses and bridal fabrics. I’ve been sewing, crocheting, embroidering, knitting, and weaving since I was a child. But I didn’t follow in Alice’s footsteps right away. I studied material culture in college, and then went to law school, after which I worked as a public defender for a decade. But I always loved bridal.
Predictably, the process of shopping for my own wedding dress in 2014 was less like shopping and more like obsession. I tried on at least 200 dresses, and I bought four: two vintage and two modern. Unfortunately for my wife, it did not end there. I continued collecting special vintage and contemporary wedding dresses for years, placing them in the back of my closet. It’s a large closet, which made it difficult to tell when they began to take over.
Eventually I realized that my love of bridal wasn’t embarrassing or strange; it was a piece of myself that I came by honestly. In late 2022, I decided to transition out of my legal career, and I opened A Day in June, an ethical and sustainable bridal shop.
While sourcing gowns for A Day in June, I collected many more beautiful and unique vintage pieces for my private collection. I also met with hundreds of brides, and I discovered that many of them shared my interest in vintage bridal couture. Maybe you do, too, and that’s why you’re here.
I began acquiring more and more standout vintage dresses from private owners and international vintage fashion dealers, and the Vionnette collection took form.
Every gown in our collection is important, for one reason or another. Several of the dresses come with personal tokens from the former owners as gifts to the future owner. Some come with interesting stories, like the dress from a woman who vividly recalls her meetings with Vera Wang herself when designing her fully custom gown in the late 1990s.
All of these dresses hold a piece of me and their former owner, and it is with great love that I offer them to my clients.
I hope you will be one of them.
xx,
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​Monet
…and in case you were wondering what happened to Alice’s gorgeous wedding dress, she was an immensely practical woman, and she donated it to Goodwill.
Alice in the 1980s, killing it in her turtleneck and trench.
Alice in the 1970s, showing up all of her friends in a baby blue leisure suit.
The vision of Vionnet
An "enemy of fashion"
Our name is a tribute to Madeleine Vionnet, the visionary French couturier who perfected the use of the bias cut (a method of cutting fabric that allows it to drape and cling to the wearer’s body) in the 1920s.
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Vionnet was a brilliant geometrician and master at couture finishing techniques. Her free-flowing, elegant creations – a significant departure from the corseted, stuffy gowns of the Victorian period – dominated fashion in the 1920s and 1930s. Vionnet’s body-skimming, elegant silhouettes modernized and revolutionized women’s attire. She dressed some of the most prominent women of the era, including Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Joan Crawford.
Portrait of Madeleine Vionnet, (Jean Dunand)
Just as revolutionary as Vionnet’s approach to fashion was her approach to labor practices. Her employees enjoyed on-site childcare, paid maternity leave, on-site medical and dental care, and a dining hall. These are remarkable workplace benefits even by today’s standards.
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Vionnet’s fashion house operated for approximately 25 years. It closed with the onset of World War II in 1939, and Vionnet retired fully the next year. Her name faded into relative obscurity for a while, but her effect on fashion never did. Today, many of the world’s most prominent designers credit her as one of their major influences.
Vionnet’s success is all the more notable because she was extremely private, disliked the culture of the fashion world, and – unlike many of her contemporaries – was uninterested in engaging in self-promotion. In fact, she referred to herself as an “enemy” of fashion, explaining that “[t]here is something superficial and volatile about the seasonal and elusive whims of fashion which offends my sense of beauty.” Vionnet was true to herself and herself alone.
In a time when fast fashion prevails, trends change as quickly as the algorithm, and labor practices remain abysmal in many parts of the world, Madeleine Vionnet’s ideals and message resonate strongly with us.
OUR VALUES
01
Your wedding dress matters
A wedding dress has unique importance in a person’s life. There is no other garment that people throughout history have gone to such great lengths to wear, or that inspires as much creativity and artistry.
We believe that a wedding dress is a once-in-a-lifetime* item that should be made with great care, skill, and attention to detail. The quality and style of your wedding dress should reflect its importance, as well as your unique style. Your bridal style should feel true to you, not the algorithm.
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*Or twice, and sometimes thrice, but you get the idea.
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02
Quality matters
The quality of wedding dresses dipped in the 1970s, when polyester fabrics flooded the market, and has deteriorated further in the past two decades. Today, most wedding dresses – even some very expensive ones – were produced offshore under questionable labor conditions using poor-quality, plastic-derived fabrics. The vast majority of today’s brides do not have access to the quality of materials and construction that existed in high-end wedding dresses from the ‘90s and earlier.
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Unearthing couture vintage dresses gives modern brides a chance to experience couture quality. It also gives us a chance to help preserve garment construction and embellishment techniques. For instance, in the ‘90s, many of Vera Wang’s gowns were beaded completely by hand by highly skilled embroiderers in France, which is virtually unheard of today. Wearing a vintage dress like this ensures that the great skill and creativity that went into creating it will not be wasted or taken for granted.
03
People matter
Above all, we value the humanity of everyone who has played a role in bringing our dresses to life, including (and especially) our brides. We are real people, our dresses were made by real people, and many of our dresses were once worn by real people. We are interested in more than just fashion – we value the humans, the skills, and the love stories behind our pieces. This is why we have gorgeous, high-quality dresses by little-known and/or retired bridal designers, not just the big names in fashion. We are committed to bringing you the most exquisite vintage wedding dresses, which means we have many couture gowns by designers who are still undiscovered by today’s brides. These are the gems in the vintage market.
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This value also undergirds our commitment to giving back. We believe that bridal can be a force for good in the world, not just a source of beauty, so we donate a portion of the proceeds of every dress to nonprofits like VOW For Girls.
Employment
Thank you for your interest in Vionnette! If we are currently hiring for any positions, you will find them posted below.
Open position: Administrator & customer service specialist (posted March 20, 2025)
Vionnette is seeking an experienced customer service & administrative professional to help manage a large volume of administrative tasks and an overflowing inbox. This is a part-time (approx. 20 hours/week) position requiring a five-day-a-week commitment, but hours and days can be flexible. The work will be primarily remote.
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Essential responsibilities
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Help develop and implement systems for managing daily employee tasks and schedules
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Respond to emails and website messages
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Manage consignments – accept/reject consignments, follow up with consignors, provide mailing labels, update & check in, etc.
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Perform frequent website updates & maintenance
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Conduct pre- and post-wedding follow-up with clients
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Plan/coordinate special events, such as pop-ups
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Add to and maintain Vionnette's archive of historic dress and magazine imagery
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Maintain stock of supplies like garment bags, hang tags, etc.
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Other administrative, communications, and project management tasks as assigned by founder
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About you
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You are extremely organized, detail-oriented, and patient
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You have impeccable customer service skills. You are kind, warm, welcoming, friendly, patient, empathetic, & inclusive. You know how to communicate and set boundaries with kindness & compassion.
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You are independent & self-motivated – you do what needs to be done, you find things to do, and you are able to stay on track without excessive supervision
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You are familiar and comfortable with technology like Excel, Word, Dropbox, scheduling software, and Wix (or similar website platform); and you can quickly pick up new technologies as required
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You are able to maintain the highest standards of confidentiality and discretion. Vionnette occasionally works with high-profile individuals, and the person in this role will be required to adhere to the terms of any confidentiality agreements signed by the organization.
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You are open-minded, empathetic, and able to relate to people from all walks of life
You don’t need…
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to love wedding dresses or vintage clothing, although it would be nice! We are looking for a person with the right skills for the job.
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to have experience working in a bridal shop, but you do need to understand and be sensitive to the importance and unique nature of this time in a person’s life
Location
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We would prefer someone who lives locally and can occasionally be on site for meetings, but we are willing to consider a fully remote candidate if it’s the right person
Application process
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Please send a resume, cover letter, and list of three references to hello@vionnettebridal.com. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Applicants will be asked to complete a short questionnaire before proceeding to interviews.
Note on accommodations
Please reach out to us at hello@vionnettebridal.com if you require any accommodations during the application process
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Equal opportunity statement
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Vionnette is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race or ethnicity, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or disability.