(AFP): One of France’s greatest fashion designers and pioneers Pierre Cardin, who extended his brand far beyond the fashion world, passed away at the age of 98, according to France’s Fine Arts Academy.
Cardin’s family announced his death to Agence France-Presse on Tuesday. The French Académie des Beaux-Arts also issued several statements mourning his passing. “Immense sadness,” the academy’s secretary-general Cyril Barthalois said in a statement, adding, “Equally great joy of having known him through the academy.”
Cardin was well-known for his bold, space-age designs in the late 1950s. He went on to launch his own brand and pioneered the use of licensing in fashion, plastering his label’s name on products of all kinds.
As well as shaking up fashion with bubble-dresses and geometrical designs, Cardin was also one of the first to bring high fashion to the masses by selling collections in department stores from the late 1950s.
Well-regarded by the Parisian haute couture set, he went on to dress 60s luminaries such as Elizabeth Taylor, Brigitte Bardot and the Beatles, whose radical, collarless jackets became the new standard for a generation still wearing their father’s suits.
His savvy business sense brought him a mix of admiration but also scorn from fashion purists at the time. While he no longer presented runway collections, Cardin remained active in the industry, attending parties and events and taking young designers under his wing.
