Callot Soeurs

Marie Gerber, Marthe Bertrand, Régine Tennyson-Chantrelle, and Joséphine Crimont—the Callot sisters—opened their couture house in 1895. Callot Soeurs rose to prominence during the early twentieth-century, achieving a reputation for quality craftsmanship, intricate embellishments, and exceptional materials. As Diana Vreeland wrote in Inventive Paris Clothes, 1909-1939, “Callot dresses were perfect in every detail.” The Callot sisters had the distinction of being mentioned by Marcel Proust, who offered a minor criticism: “They go in rather too freely for lace.” If they were particularly renowned for their use of lace, it may have been because lace-making was a family legacy.

Their work of the 1920s—still beautifully decorated—often showed an exotic, Eastern influence. The House of Callot Soeurs was also the training ground for one of the twentieth-century’s greatest designers—Madeleine Vionnet—who was Callot’s head of the workroom, or première. She considered her experience at Callot to be invaluable later in her career, and expressed great respect for the house’s head designer, Madame Gerber. She once described her as “a true dressmaker,” and “a great lady totally occupied with a profession that consists of adorning women . . . not constructing a costume.”