The world of fashion was hit yesterday with the news of the death of fashion icon, Pirre Cardin.
The visionary fashion designer renowned for clothing the elite, transforming the business of fashion and affixing his name to a deluge of merchandise died on Tuesday in Neuilly-Our-Seine, near Paris.
He was aged 98.
His brand touched off-the-rack apparel, bath towels, fragrances etc.
The cause of death is not yet known but he is reported to have died at an American hospital on Tuesday by the French Academy of Fine Arts.
Pierre Cardin once told Eugenia Sheppard, an American newspaper columnist that the “Fashion is not enough, I don’t want to be just a designer.”
He was indeed never just a designer. He is reputed to have dressed celebrities – artistes, political big wigs, tastemakers and aristocrats.
His designs were also courted by the middle and low income bracket.
Famous for the bubble dress, and dresses influenced by geometric shapes rendered in silver foil, paper and brightly coloured vinyl, Pierre Cardin dominated the fashion world for three quarters of a century.
The New York Times wrote about Pierre Cardin, “There were bubble dresses and aviator jumpsuits, fragrances and automobiles, ashtrays and even pickle jars.
“Planting his flag on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore in Paris, he proceeded to turn the country’s fashion establishment on its head, reproducing fashions for mass, ready-to-wear consumption and dealing a blow to the elitism that governed the Parisian couture.”