Pierre Cardin, the fashion designer known for his futuristic, space-age-inflected creations, and maverick business acumen, has passed away in France at the age of 98. The news was confirmed by the designer’s family. ‘It is a day of great sadness for all our family. Pierre Cardin is no more,’ they said. ‘We are all proud of his tenacious ambition and the daring he has shown throughout his life’.
As well as dressing celebrities such as Brigitte Bardot and the Beatles, Cardin was equally notable for his early adoption of licensing and branding that disrupted the world of haute couture, eagerly placing his name on all manner of products, from sunglasses to pickles. One could ‘dress Cardin, eat Cardin, dwell Cardin, sleep Cardin, and travel Cardin’, the ’Napoleon of Licensers’ once boasted.
The French-Italian designer began his career working for the fashion designers Paquin and Schiaparelli, and then Christian Dior. Under his own House of Cardin, he created his iconic ‘bubble dress’ in 1954 (named after the manner in which it flared below the waist). In 1959, he produced his first ready-to-wear collection (a scandal that led to his expulsion from Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Parisienne), realising his vision of bringing high fashion to the masses.
In the 1960s, he began producing striking, square-cut dresses with geometric sleeves which chimed with the cosmic enthusiasms of the time. He experimented with vinyl, silvery fabrics, and transformed hats into space-age helmets. In 1969, he was commissioned to create a spacesuit for NASA.
Cardin also left his mark in pushing a fashion house’s global ambitions – he presented in China in 1979 (becoming the first French designer to trade with the communist country), and Moscow’s Red Square in 1991, attracting a crowd of 200,000.
