Vionnet goes into voluntary liquidation

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Oct 16, 2018

Vionnet, the legendary French fashion house, managed and owned by socialite designer Goga Ashkenazi, has gone into voluntary liquidation. The house announced in a release Tuesday that both Vionnet and its holding company NVO Srl will be closing down.

“With the experience and acquired wisdom in the turbulent environment of today’s transformed fashion industry, Vionnet has decided to redefine its activities in the light of Madeleine Vionnet’s timeless heritage and entrepreneurial vision and courage and engage in innovative ways pursuant to sustainable development strategies. We see it as the only way forward for us and humanity as a whole.” said Goga Ashkenazi, chairwoman and creative director of Vionnet, in the release.
 
Founded in Paris in 1912 by the visionary Madeleine Vionnet, the house was acquired by Ashkenazi from Matteo Marzotto and Gianni Castiglioni, the former CEO of Marni, in 2012. Initially, Ashkenazi worked with creative directors, sisters Barbara and Lucia Croce, before taking over the design reins herself, and moving the company from Paris to Milan.

Madeleine Vionnet is regarded as a fashion revolutionary fashion who freed women from corsets and invented the bias cut, inspired by the Greek art of draping. However, Goga, as Ashkenazi was universally known, received decidedly mixed reviews, as the house veered from Italian sportswear to more grandiose fare, which could be seen in the brand’s Paris boutique on rue François 1er. As a result, it comes as no real surprise that today’s release revealed that “the brand searches for investors that would enable the brand to be re-positioned on the market.”
 
Most recently, Vionnet inked a deal with happening artist Marc Quinn, to develop an eco-friendly “capsule” collection called Sustainable Surf. Last month during Milan Fashion Week, instead of a lavish show in a grand Milanese palazzo – as it had often done – Vionnet staged a small presentation in the garden of Goga’s private home.
 
In the release, the Kazakhstan-born entrepreneur claimed that “the decision comes following the brand’s commitment to sustainability.”  
 
In fact, in most observers view the one thing that could not be sustained was a house incapable of reviving its glory days due to a confused view of its own DNA.