Weltnachrichten – AU – French designer Pierre Cardin, license pioneer, dies at the age of 98

French fashion designer Pierre Cardin possessed a wildly inventive artistic sensibility that was tempered by a stiff dose of business acumen. He had no problem recognizing that he’d made more money on a pair of stockings than on a six-figure haute couture dress.

Cardin, who died Tuesday at the age of 98, was the ultimate entrepreneurial designer. Understanding the importance of his exclusive haute couture shows to consumer demand, he became an early pioneer of licensing. His name shone on hundreds of products, from accessories to housewares.

« The numbers don’t lie, » Cardin said in a 1970 French television interview. “I make more money selling a tie than selling a million-franc dress. It’s not intuitive, but the accounts prove it. In the end, it’s all about the numbers. ”

The French Academy of Fine Arts announced Cardin’s death in a tweet. He has been among its famous members since 1992. The academy did not give any cause of death or say where the designer died.

Designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, who made his debut in Cardin’s house, paid tribute to his mentor on Twitter: “Thank you, Mr. Cardin, for opening the doors of fashion for me and for making my dream possible. ”

Together with French compatriot Andre Courreges and Spaniard Paco Rabanne, two other Paris-based designers known for their avant-garde space-age styles, Cardin revolutionized fashion from the early 1950s.

At a time when other Parisian labels were obsessed with flattering the feminine shape, Cardin’s designs threw the wearer on as a kind of glorified coat hanger to showcase the clothing’s sharp shapes and graphic patterns. His designs, which were designed neither for pragmatists nor for wallflowers, were about making a grand entrance – sometimes very literally.

Fluorescent spandex dresses and bodysuits had plastic hoops attached to the waist, elbows, wrists, and knees. Bubble dresses and cloaks wrapped their wearers in oversized balls of fabric. Hoods were shaped like flying saucers; Bucket hats covered the entire heads of the models with cut-out windshields around the eyes.

“Fashion is always ridiculous, seen before or after. But right now it’s wonderful, ”Cardin said in a 1970 interview.

A quote on his label’s website summarized his philosophy: “The clothes I prefer are the ones I create for a life that doesn’t yet exist, the world of tomorrow. ”

Cardin’s name shaped thousands of products, from watches to bedsheets. In the heyday of the brand, goods with its fancy italics were in around 100. 000 branches sold worldwide.

That number declined dramatically in later years as Cardin products began to be viewed as cheaply made and its clothing designs – which decades later remained virtually unchanged from 1960s styles – became obsolete.

Cardin, an accomplished businessman, used his fabulous wealth to purchase prime Parisian real estate, including the Belle Epoque restaurant Maxim’s, which he also visited. Its flagship store next to the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris continues to display eye-catching designs.

Cardin was born on Jan.. Born July 1922 in a small town near Venice into a modest working-class family. As a child, the family moved to Saint Etienne in central France, where Cardin was educated and became an apprentice tailor at the age of 14.

Cardin later adopted the status of a self-made man, saying in the 1970 television interview that it makes life a lot more real and forces you to make choices and be brave.

« It is much more difficult to get into a dark forest on your own than if you already know the way, » he said.

After moving to Paris, he worked as an assistant in the House of Paquin from 1945 and also helped design costumes for filmmakers such as Jean Cocteau. He was involved in creating the costumes for the director’s 1946 hit « Beauty and the Beast ». ”

After a short collaboration with Elsa Schiaparelli and Christian Dior, Cardin opened his own fashion house in the posh 1. District of Paris starting with costumes and masks.

Cardin delivered his first real collection in 1953. Success quickly followed with the introduction of the famous « Bubble » dress in 1954, which put the label on the card.

Cardin hosted his first ready-to-wear show at the Printemps department store in Paris in 1959, a bold initiative that temporarily left the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Cardin’s relationship with the organization – the governing body of French fashion – was rocky, and he later voluntarily quit running shows on his own terms.

Cardin’s high-profile relationship with French actress Jeanne Moreau, the smoky blonde from « Jules and Jim », also contributed to brand awareness. Described by both as « true love », the couple’s relationship lasted approximately five years, although they never married.

For Cardin, the astronomical cost of creating haute couture collections was an investment. Although the pharaonic prices of the clothes did not cover the cost of making the bespoke clothes, the media coverage generated by the couture shows helped sell affordable items such as hats, belts and underwear.

As Cardin’s fame and fortune increased, so did his real estate portfolio. For a long time he lived a strict, almost monastic life with his sister in a spacious apartment directly opposite the Elysee Palace and bought so many Topflight properties in the neighborhood that fashion insiders joked that he could have staged a coup.

In addition to his women’s and men’s clothing boutiques, Cardin opened a children’s store, a furniture store, and Espace Cardin, a sprawling hall in central Paris where the designer would later host fashion shows, as well as plays, ballets, and other cultural events.

In addition to clothing, Cardin made a mark on perfumes, make-up, china, chocolates, a resort in southern France and even the velvet walled waterhole Maxim – where he could often be seen at lunch.

In the 1970s there was an enormous Cardin expansion that increased its sales outlets to more than 100. 000 brought. Around the same number of workers worldwide produced under the Cardin label.

Cardin pioneered Asia’s importance as both a manufacturing hub and consumer potential. He was present in Japan from the early 1960s and in 1979 was the first western designer to stage a fashion show in China.

In 1986 he signed a contract with the Soviet authorities to open a showroom in the communist nation to sell locally made clothes under his label.

In his later life, with no legacy apparent, Cardin dismantled much of his vast empire and in 2009 sold dozens of his Chinese licenses to two local firms.

Two years later, he announced to the Wall Street Journal that he was ready to sell his entire business, including an estimated 500-600 licenses, for $ 1. 4 billion.

Pierre Cardin, French fashion, Dior