Dec 30, 2020
Pierre Cardin, the visionary designer who clothed the elite but also transformed the business of fashion, reaching the masses by affixing his name to an outpouring of merchandise ranging from off-the-rack apparel to bath towels, has died in France. He was 98.
His death was confirmed Tuesday by the French Academy of Fine Arts. He died at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, just outside Paris, his family said, according to Agence France-Presse.
“Fashion is not enough,” Cardin once told Eugenia Sheppard, the American newspaper columnist and fashion critic. “I don’t want to be just a designer.”
He was never just that. He dressed the famous artists, political luminaries, tastemakers and members of the haute bourgeoisie but he was also a licensing pioneer, a merchant to the general public with his name on a cornucopia of products, none too exalted or too humble to escape his avid eye.
Fashion designer Pierre Cardin has died at the age of 98, according to France s Fine Arts Academy.
The French star, who was born in Italy, was known for his avant-garde style and futuristic designs in the 1960s and 70s.
He first worked at couture houses before launching his own brand and pioneering the use of licensing in fashion.
He put his label s name on different products, including perfumes and cosmetics as well as cigarette cases and baseball caps.
The Beatles famously wore his collarless suits, designed without lapels and buttons done up to the top. Advertisement
Armani chocolates, Bulgari hotels and Gucci sunglasses are all based on Cardin s realisation that a fashion brand s glamour had lots of merchandising potential.
Posted December 29, 2020 6:08 p.m. EST
Updated December 29, 2020 6:12 p.m. EST
By Ruth La Ferla, New York Times
Pierre Cardin, the visionary designer who clothed the elite but also transformed the business of fashion, reaching the masses by affixing his name to an outpouring of merchandise ranging from off-the-rack apparel to bath towels, died on Tuesday in Neuilly-sur-Seine, just outside Paris. He was 98.
His death, at the American Hospital there, was confirmed Tuesday by the French Academy of Fine Arts. No cause was given.
“Fashion is not enough,” Cardin once told Eugenia Sheppard, the American newspaper columnist and fashion critic. “I don’t want to be just a designer.”
Pierre Cardin
The Dior protege dressed The Beatles and Lauren Bacall and redefined fashion s business model as he built an international empire of licensed products.
Pierre Cardin, the Italian-born French designer of an eternal tomorrow who defined the futuristic look of the 1960s and revolutionized the business of high fashion, died today. He was 98.
Cardin died Tuesday at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, just outside Paris, his family told the Agence France-Presse.
During his seven-decade career, Cardin came to be known for his avant-garde creativity in both fashion and business, and his futuristic materials and stark silhouettes with geometric details became synonymous with the Space Age. A Cardin garment is unmistakable with its trademark minimalism and almost complete disregard for the female form; it is the antithesis of the womanly New Look pioneered by Christian Dior, with whom Cardin worked before founding his eponymous couture fashion house in 1950.