(b Venice, July 1, 1922).
French couturier, ready-to-wear designer and entrepreneur. Cardin is known for space-age style fashions in the 1960s, pioneering the ready-to-wear market and extensive licensing of his name (see fig.).
Cardin was born in Italy, but his family moved to France when he was two years old. He worked as a menswear tailor in Vichy, then as an accountant for the Red Cross during World War II. He later moved to Paris, where he was employed as an assistant at the couture houses of Jeanne Paquin, Elsa Schiaparelli and Christian Dior. Cardin helped execute Dior’s design of the famous ‘Bar’ suit for his inaugural ‘New Look’ collection in 1947. In 1950 he started his own business and designed costumes for theatre productions, including Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast. In 1953, he began designing small couture collections for women. At the time his fashions were similar to those of other Paris ...
