Designer Pierre Cardin

Commander of the Legion of Honor, Commander of the National Order of Merit, Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, the first couturier elected as a member of the French Academy of Fine Arts. And these are not all of his awards. In 2002 Pierre Cardin, this fashion designer of Italian-French origin, received the Order of Francis Skaryna for the development of cultural ties between Belarus and France. It was Pierre Cardin who helped organize the Days Belarusian culture in Paris in the 1990s, and he was also actively involved in helping children affected by Chernobyl.

Pierre Cardin was born on July 7, 1922 in Trevisa, Italy. Not far from Venice. But when he was three years old, his family moved to France. The family had six children. Pierre's father was a winemaker. But Cardin did not follow in the footsteps of his father, and at the age of 14 he becomes an apprentice at a tailor, begins to master the art of tailoring. During the Second World War, Pierre Cardin worked in the Red Cross, and also sewed women's suits at one of the garment factories in the city of Vichy. After the war he moved to Paris. And since 1946 he began to work in the House "Christian Dior", he was then only 24 years old.

No wonder Cardin at one time wanted to become an accountant, he turned out to be not only a good fashion designer, but also a successful businessman.

In 1950 Pierre Cardin opens his atelier. At first, they sewed mainly costumes for the theater. Theater, in general, is the passion of Pierre Cardin's whole life. So having visited the Soviet Union in 1963, Pierre Cardin will return here to Russia more than once. And cooperate with many theaters. He created costumes for many performances, for example, "Juno and Avos", "Anna Karenina", "The Seagull". Costumes for the ballets of Maya Plisetskaya, who, undoubtedly, was also one of his muses. And in 1998 he will create a whole collection dedicated to the centenary of the Moscow Art Theater. The source of inspiration for him will be "Chekhov's women". Theater and stage. It is Pierre Cardin who will create for the Beatles long collarless jackets and skinny trousers with buttons.

But then, in 1951, he showed his first collection of women's dresses. And soon he opened his own boutique "Eva". Pierre Cardin will open his second boutique in 1957. What do you think he will call this boutique? Yes, Adam. Cardin was one of the first in the fashion world to master the licensing system, and today his clothes are produced not only in Europe, but also in Asia.

Pierre Cardin has always been an innovator and avant-garde artist. He was always ahead. Thus, in 1959, Cardin presents a ready-to-wear collection, a collection of ready-to-wear dresses, created by him for two well-known stores - Printemps and Herti. For this collection, Pierre Cardin was expelled from the Haute Couture Syndicate, into which he was admitted back in 1957. They considered that he caused irreparable damage to high fashion by his actions. But soon many fashion designers followed Cardin's example, starting to create their own collections of ready-made dresses.

It was Pierre Cardin who was one of the first to create a collection of unisex clothing (he himself never liked this word), and a collection of both men's and women's clothing. It was he who created mini-sundresses, "bubble jackets", absolutely not serious and frivolous ties "in a flower", the same colored stockings free from any boredom, it is in his collections that the first high boots appear. It is in his collections that the "balloon" silhouette appears in coats and cocktail dresses. In total, Pierre Cardin has patented over 500 inventions.

In honor of the fortieth anniversary of his creative activity, Pierre Cardin in 1991 held a show of one of his collections on Red Square.

There is not so much information about the personal life of this great couturier.

“I idolized this woman and felt at the height of happiness. As if it was made especially for me.She turned my whole soul "- said Pierre Cardin many years later. And not only my soul, my whole life. And views. After all, before meeting Jeanne Moreau, Pierre Cardin loved only men.

Jeanne Moreau - actressand then a director - she came to the Pierre Cardin Fashion House in 1961. She was sent to him by Coco Chanel, who supported the novice couturier. Their romance lasted four years.

Many boutiques, restaurants and theaters are open today under his name. He also owns a large number of real estate. Moreover, some of the properties acquired by Pierre Cardin are legendary in themselves. So he, for example, owns the castle of the Marquis de Sade and the house of Casanova. Today Pierre Cardin is already well over 80, but he is still actively working and creating new collections. However, he also cares about the future of his business. So in 2011 there were rumors that Pierre Cardin wanted to sell the Pierre Cardin brand for 1 billion, and undoubtedly in good hands.