Rest in Peace Pierre Cardin

French couturier Pierre Cardin died at the age of 98 on December 29, 2020 in Paris. He became famous for his 1960s-era avant-garde and Space Age looks, pioneering fashion ready-to-wear and the fashion licensing system. He sold everything from cars, perfume to food with his name and maintained that he built his business empire without ever asking a bank for a loan. This made him rich but also diminished his brand’s reputation at the same time.

In 1995, quotes from WWD included «Pierre Cardin—he has sold his name for toilet paper. At what point do you lose your identity?». However, the Cardin name was still very profitable, although the indiscriminate licensing approach was considered a failure. All these things that we know today, Armani hotels, Cartier chocolate, Dior Vespas, Gucci sunglasses is based on the imagination of Cardin. He was a marketing genius and saw this endless merchandising potential at a very early stage.

A scandal: He presented his first ready-to-wear collection for women in 1959 at Printemps departments store in Paris.

Spanning a 60-year career, Cardin was the first designer to sell clothes collections in department stores in the late 1950s. «It’s all the same to me whether I am doing sleeves for dresses or table legs,» a telling quote on his website once read. His competitors criticized him for destroying the notion of luxury which didn’t affect Cardin at all.

Dior’s famous New Look success created by Christian Dior and Pierre Cardin.

Born Pietro Cardin on July 2, 1922 near Venice to French parents of Italian descent, he was educated in the not-so-glamorous French city of Saint Etienne. From an early age, he was interested in dressmaking, starting work at age 14 as an apprentice even though his father wanted him to become an architect. He moved to Paris in 1945, where he studied architecture and worked with the fashion houses of Paquin and Elsa Schiaparelli. A year later, he joined the then-unknown Christian Dior who rose to fame with his 1947 New Look collection.

The famous bubble dress in 1954.

In 1950, he founded his own fashion house and only four years later, he introduced the iconic «bubble dress», a short-skirted, bubble-shaped dress made by bias-cutting over a stiffened base. He was the first couturier to turn to Japan as a high fashion market when he travelled there in 1957. That same year, he was expelled from the Chambre Syndicale for launching a ready-to-wear collection for the Printemps department store as the first couturier in Paris to do as such, but was soon reinstated. In 1966, he resigned himself and began showing his collections in his own venue, the «Espace Cardin» (opened 1971) in Paris, formerly the «Théâtre des Ambassadeurs».

Pierre Cardin in 1970 in front of the Espace Cardin.

He also blazed a trail outside France long before other fashion multinationals in search of new markets. In 1979, he went to China to presented a collection when it was still largely closed to the outside world. And only two years after the Berlin Wall came down, in 1991, he staged a fashion show in Red Square in Moscow before 200,000 people, a first in Russian history.

In 1975, Cardin opened his first furniture boutique on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. His furniture designs were highly inspired by his fashion designs. In both 1977 and 1979, he was awarded the Cartier Golden Thimble by French haute couture for the most creative collection of the season.

In 1974 he became the first couturier to be on the Time magazine’s cover. He was 52 at that time.

In 1975, Cardin opened his first furniture boutique on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. His furniture designs were highly inspired by his fashion designs. In both 1977 and 1979, he was awarded the Cartier Golden Thimble by French haute couture for the most creative collection of the season.

Maxim’s restaurants are part of Cardin’s portfolio.

In 1981 Cardin bought Maxim’s restaurants in 1981 and soon opened branches in New York, London, and Beijing. A chain of Maxim’s Hotels (Palm Springs, California, 1986) were included in the assets. He also licensed a wide range of food products under that name.

Palais des Bulles

Like many other designers today, Cardin decided in 1994 to show his collection only to a small circle of selected clients and journalists. After a break of 15 years, he showed a new collection to a group of 150 journalists at his bubble home in Cannes, the so-called Palais des Bulles, woven into the cliffs on one of the most exclusive strips of the French riviera.

Pierre Cardin and Pierre Courtial in February 2020

For his latest venture in February this year he teamed up with Pierre Courtial, 27, who unveiled a collection at Cardin’s studio on Paris’s chic Rue Saint-Honore, with pieces that echoed some of the veteran designer’s geometrical aesthetics.

Pierre Cardin in 1950

«I’ve always tried to be different, to be myself,» Cardin told Reuters. «Whether people like it or not, that’s not what matters.» He also defended his zeal for licensing in an interview with the Wall Street Journal: «I don’t want to end up like Balenciaga and die without a nickel – then, 20 years after I’m dead, see others make a fortune from my name.»

Rest in Peace Pierre Cardin!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Pierre Cardin

Fashion at Versailles

Chanel Versailles

Tomorrow, May 14, “Kaiser Karl” will reign over the world of fashion once more. Lagerfeld will show his Resort 2013 collection for Chanel at Versailles. Of course, it will be a big production, but all details are still under wraps. Past Chanel Resort shows have been presented at the Lido in Venice (Resort 2010), and one of my favourites, in St. Tropez (Resort 2011). Their locations usually bewray the inspiration for the collection.

Versailles was the famous place where the French royal family ruled in extravagance for 100 years before the French Revolution. What does come to your mind? As for me, I could only think of excess, rich fabrics, opulence.

 I am truly curious what Karl Lagerfeld has been thinking of.  If anyone is up to the task to pay tribute to Marie Antoinette or to revive those decadent moments in time, it is definitely him. I am sure that he will surprise us as the setting has to be different from his S/S 2011 Chanel show that was based on Versailles’s extensive gardens (see above).

If you look in fashion history, this won’t be the first time Versailles has been used for a show.

Couture 2007-Dior

In 2007, John Galliano rented out the palace for a huge spectacle – Dior‘s 60th anniversary couture show.

Battle of Versailles 1973

In 1973, five upcoming US-designers, Anne Klein, Stephen Burrows, Halston, Bill Blass, and Oscar de la Renta faced off against French couturiers Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, and Emanuel Ungaro in a runway spectacle that became known as the Battle of Versailles.

The French designers were certain of victory, due to their long tradition and know-how. But the Americans had a secret weapon; a vibrant group of eight African-American models plus the wish to conquer the European world of fashion. And the celebrity-packed audience of 800, including a tiara-wearing Princess Grace cheered to their performance. It was that chilly night changed the face and colour of fashion forever.

Versailles1

There have also been numerous fashion editorials photographed at Versailles over the years.

Above:
1 Shalom Harlow by Steven Meisel for Vogue October 1994
Diane Krüger by Gilles Marie Zimmerman for Paris Match March 2012
Trish Goff by Steven Meisel for Vogue October 1994

Please enjoy this little summary of some of the most beautiful ones, along with other palace-set shoots by Karl Lagerfeld himself.

French Chic

Jessica Stam and Snejana Onopka by Karl Lagerfeld for Harper’s Bazaar Romania November 2007

24hour Couture

Gisele Bündchen by Karl Lagerfeld for Harper’s Bazaar June 2007

Tatler

Vanessa Paradis by Karl Lagerfeld for Tatler Russia July 2012

Stay tuned for the photos of the Chanel Resort 2013 show.

LoL, Sandra