The French fashion designer Pierre Cardin has died aged 98.
On Tuesday, the French Academy of Fine Arts confirmed that the legendary fashion figure died at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, which is just outside of Paris.
Cardin was renowned for his futuristic vision, with some of his most famous creations including an interpretation of a spacesuit, commissioned by Nasa in 1969, and geometric dresses made from silver foil and vinyl.
His space-age designs were largely credited for shaping the major fashion trends of the 1960s and 1970s.
However, he was also famed for his business methods and he licensed his name to be used on a range of affordable products, from ballpoint pens to perfume.
“The clothes that I prefer are those I invent for a life that doesn’t exist yet – the world of tomorrow,” he once said.
Cardin was born in Italy in 1922 and began his fashion career at Paquin, a leading French fashion house at the time.
He went on to work for director Jean Cocteau and assisted with costume design for his 1946 film Beauty and the Beast.
After five years of working in the fashion industry, Cardin set up his own boutique in Paris and very quickly became hugely successful, counting actor Rita Hayworth among his clients.
Soon, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were wearing his menswear designs on stage.
Cardin continued making clothes for film and TV and became fixated on space, which inspired his frequent use of silver in his collections.
He also modelled hats on astronaut helmets and covered dresses with circular patterns inspired by his love of the moon.
Cardin’s space aesthetic became hugely popular given that it reflected one of the world’s biggest fascinations at the time as man walked on the moon for the very first time in 1969.
He is also credited for anticipating the unisex clothing trend due to the fact that, in 1964, Cardin produced a collection for men and women comprising tunics and hoses.
Cardin was also among the first fashion designers to put his logo on all of his clothing, something that is considered standard among designer labels today.
Thanks to his licensing tactics, Cardin built an empire that saw him put his name on everything from sunglasses to boxer shorts.
“I’ve done it all,” he once told The New York Times. “I even have my own water! I’ll do perfumes, sardines. Why not? If someone asked me to do toilet paper, I’d do it.”
