Christhea Amanda
Pierre Cardin – Fashion Designer Research Paper
Intro to Fashion
Pierre Cardin (born Pietro Cardin) was born to French parents in San Andrea da Barbara, a city near Venice, Italy on July 7, 1922. Italy and France definitely influenced his fashion aesthetic, the fact that he is a couturier has proved that his style was influenced by his parents’ background as well as his own (though he mostly lived in France, he lived in Italy for 23 years). He moved to Paris, France at the end of World War II in 1945 to study architecture. He worked in Paquin fashion house and later he left the Paquin house to work for the Schiaperelli fashion house.
Later in his life he met Christian Berard and Jean Cocteau, Jean was considered to be a genius for his multiple talents as an artist; not only he was a director, he was also a poet, writer, set designer, and a painter. In this period of his life, Pierre made costumes for several movies like La Belle et la Bête, also known as Beauty and the Beast, in 1946.
After his work in the costuming industry was well received, he worked for Christian Dior in 1947 where he helped design Dior’s “New Look”. New Look was designed to free women’s bodies from earlier fashion of masculinity in women’s garments due to World War II. This line emphasized women’s femininity by showcasing their curves. Pierre Cardin eventually left Dior to build his own fashion house in 1950 on Rue Richepanse in Paris. He began the career of his fashion house by designing costumes for the stage. Not too long after he started, he quickly built his client base with some help from Christian Dior who sent his overflow of clients to Cardin’s house.
In 1953 he launched his first collection, and in 1954 he opened EVE, his first boutique for women in Paris. Eve was later followed by ADAM in 1957, his first men’s boutique. He has been designing for his fashion house since its opening to this day, even though he is planning to sell it for 1 billion Euro. However, one of his terms was that he remained a creative director for the fashion house after it sells (United Kingdom BBC News.)
In 1954 his “bubble dresses” were loose fitting dresses which tightened on the waistline, widened, then was brought back at the hem which generated a “bubble” effect. These dresses captured the heart of fashion world. His first collection promoted him to become a member of the Chambre Syndicale, a haute couturier association in France.
After his success in France, he planned to make Japan his high fashion market after visiting the country in 1957. He was considered one of the first Western designers who turned their business to the Eastern hemisphere, and not only did he open his business there, he also received a great deal of inspiration from the “culture shock” that he experienced from Japan. Moreover, he was made an honorary professor at Bunka Fukusoi, a famous Japanese fashion school, where he taught a one-month class for three-dimensional cuts. At the same year, he also launched his Men’s Ready-to-Wear collection and later on he launched another line for women’s in 1963.
In 1959 he was expelled from Syndicale, some people speculated that this was due to his ready-to-wear collection launch. At that time, haute couturier designers only designed custom-made clothes for select private clients, so his ready-to-wear was seen as a deviance to the old tradition of French Haute Couture practice. However, he was later reinstated back as a member.
Later in his career, his collection was showcased worldwide from 1989-1994, from London to Montreal, from Mexico to Kyoto; he had his hand on the world’s fashion market. Afterward, in 1991, he turns his collection to Moscow where his fashion show garnered an audience of 200,000 people. Six years later, the opening of 50 Years of Cardin, a retrospective exhibit, opened in Paris. The exhibit advanced to Tokyo and later to Florence. In 1977, 1979, and 1982 Cartier for French Haute Couture awarded him with “De d’Or”.
Pierre Cardin was one of the first famous designers who was concerned about sustainability fashion, because the wet process of making a garment very hazardous to the environment due to the release of chemicals and other wastes. He created a line that was called Environmental Art, which tried to create public awareness of environmental issues created by the fashion industry. As Mr. Cardin said in his website,
“I like designing out of context, without the limitations of angles, corridors, rooms, or walls. It’s all the same to me whether I’m doing sleeves for dresses or table-legs.” www.pierrecardin.com His designs are daring, often does not follow the human body’s contours, which helped create the futuristic feelings to them. His planar, Avant-Grade geometric designs often look asexual and groundbreaking. During the 1970’s when the miniskirt was booming, Cardin made the long, flowing Long Longuette dress, which became the base of the maxidress, which is still in fashion today. He was also starting to use stretch fabrics in 1971, and went as far as signing an exclusive agreement with a stretch fabric maker firm in Germany.
One of his looks is called Space Age or Cosmocorps, which was launched in 1964 where he incorporated stark tunics, helmets, and goggles. This collection followed his usual MO of minimalistic, yet highly body-skimming design. In this collection he used a great deal of wool; however, he also used a metal and vinyl. Some of his designs were heavily influenced by Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso’s art, and this case is not strange considering both artists are Cardin’s friends, and their art was not the only art that influenced his designs, but they are definitely the most prominent ones.
He made his own image of men’s suit, he removed lapels, cuffs, even collars. This look was clearly out of the box back in 1960s, and his stunning design was very refreshing and groundbreaking, until Dougie Millings made his own collarless suits and clad the Beatles with it. Later on, he made his Nehru Jacket, which was heavily influenced by the traditional garments of India and Pakistan which had high-collars. Moreover, he also changed the traditional men’s buttoned shirt with turtlenecks and adorn his men collection with scarves instead of neck ties.
He is not known for a specific color usage; however, in his collection in 1967 he did prominently used bright colors. He likes to pair his mini-dresses with either a pair of white patterned tights or monotone colored stockings. He also utilizes a wide range of patterns, from floral to polka dots. His customers are men or women who are fashion-forward and who like to break the boundaries of their gender or age’s current fashion paradigm. He/she will be an affluent individual, who is not afraid to spend their money for their looks, and is artistic and definitely not conservative. Since Cardin’s designs are asexual, it would have to attract open minded individuals, they are the type of people who have high standards and wants quality, not quantity. He does a lot of three dimensional appliqués from vinyl and most of them were of either his initial or a bull’s eye, which is his company’s logo.