Goodbye Cardin

On December 29, at the age of 98, Pierre Cardin passed away.
A great couturier of the second half of the twentieth century, the designer will be remembered for his innovative creations linked to the world of space and design. He was born in the province of Treviso and soon his family moved to France, where Pietro became Pierre and began his journey in fashion at the age of 14. He begins as an apprentice with a modest tailor of Saint-Etienne and, within a few years, he learns the art of fabrics and sewing.

He moved to Paris where he worked first for the French designer Jeanne Paquin and then for the Italian Elsa Schiaparelli until he became the first tailor in the Christian Dior maison. Cardin studies and works, being guided by his sense of beauty and Italian roots, immersed in French worldliness. In 1950 he founded his own brand and it is a succession of legendary creations such as the iconic Bubble Dress, the dress with a balloon skirt. He is the first designer who manages to show in high fashion and at the same time to launch the pret-a-porter, chic but mass-produced clothes for sale in the Printemps department store in Paris.

In 1960, his Space Age collection inspired by space enters history: white dresses with geometric shapes with vertical cuts, circular sections with portions of exposed naked leather, tight knitted jumpsuits, tight leather pants, sweaters with bat sleeves .
He contends with the English designer Mary Quant for the birth of the miniskirt, but he is certainly responsible for the creation of cigarette trousers for the male wardrobe and the creation of the first children's fashion collection. He loves to experiment with cuts and shapes, preferring a unisex and nonconformist style linked to the world of objects, architecture and travel.

A creative freedom told in the docu-film House of Cardin, presented at the Venice Film Festival in 2019.

Elisa D'Adamo
NP February 2021