ByIANSlife Features

December 29, 2020 (IANS) Veteran couturier Pierre Cardin passed away in a hospital in Neuilly in the west of Paris on Tuesday at the age of 98.  

The French designer was celebrated for being a forerunner in his field and for revolutionizing the business of fashion to how we know it today. Not only was Cardin the first designer in the 1950s to retail his collections in department stores, but he was also the first to diversify his brand and capitalise on the brand name by selling everything from perfumes, accessories, pens to even cars and food.  

The visionary has been quoted stating, “The clothes I prefer are the garments that I invent for a lifestyle that does not yet exist—the world of tomorrow.” He has received both accolades and censure for selling designer clothes to the masses and making a fortune doing it. 

 

Born to French parents of Italian descent, Cardin was educated in Saint Etienne in France. He prided himself for building an empire without ever asking for a bank loan. In 2007 he Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung quoted him saying, “I had a sense for marketing my name… Does money spoil one’s ideas? I don’t dream of money after all, but while I’m dreaming, I’m making money. It’s never been about the money.”
 

In Cardin’s career which spanned over 60 years, the couturier stayed true to his vision and created a multinational fashion brand presenting collections across the world in cities including Communist China, Moscow’s Red Square and Germany. He also expanded into the food businesses with Paris’s restaurant Maxim’s, creating a chain of restaurants and fast-food joints across the world.
 

The brand’s social media account features a post quoting the renowned designer sating, “I have always worked in my own style, which is different from all others. It was always my intention to be different, because that is the only way to last.” 

(This article is website exclusive and cannot be reproduced without the permission of IANSlife)

IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in