Born in Italy in 1922, Pierre Cardin later moved to France to study architecture. He subsequently worked with Elsa Schiaparelli and eventually became the head of Christian Dior’s tailleure atelier in 1947. He was offered a position over at Balenciaga, but denied, because he could. Cardin was the first to brilliant designer to expand haute couture to Japan’s markets. From there, he built his empire up with housewares, American Motors, and even restaurants and food products.
His clothes- space age, geometric based patterns – remain new classics. His general rule of thumb seemed to be experimental, not practical. Criticism rained over his collections often, for “ignoring the female body form.” I disagree. My love for the creator of the bubble dress and king of the avant-garde 60’s is everlasting.
With Courreges making a bit of a comeback by way of having a couple of incredible shows on the Paris Fashion Week calendar last year, and Paco Rabanne currently dominating with cult-worthy pieces under current creative director Julien Dossena, it’s high time Pierre Cardin makes a fashion comeback in 2020. I’d like to see someone bring back to label today in a way that isn’t solely concerned with licensed kitchen goods. Although, Pierre Cardin’s furniture is pretty amazing.
Cardin also had a massive solo show at Brooklyn Museum from 2019 to early 2020, and in 2018, fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier devoted a couture show to the designer (Cardin was even present, sitting front row), further proving a Cardin comeback needs to happen.
Beyond that, his plastic-y germ-repelling fabrics, hard metals and oblong clear helmets would probably be pretty good at repelling viruses…
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