Legendary French fashion designer Pierre Cardin has died at the age of 98, France’s Fine Arts Academy announced Tuesday in a statement on Twitter.

His creations adorned many stars of the day, among them Elizabeth Taylor, Barbra Streisand, Jeanne Moreau, Jackie Kennedy, Charlotte Rampling, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Cardin was among the first designers to capitalize on the business side of fashion, becoming a household name thanks to powerful branding.

Cardin was born in 1922 in San Biagio di Callalta, a small town in northeast Italy about 20 miles from Venice. He was born Pietro, but he became known as Pierre after his family relocated to France to escape fascism two years later.

As a young man, his first steps into fashion coincided with a move to Paris, where he worked on the costumes of Jean Cocteau’s film version of “Beauty and the Beast.” In 1946, he was hired as a tailor by his subsequent mentor, Christian Dior, who had just opened his couture house in Paris.

Four years later, at the age of 28, Cardin founded his own eponymous fashion brand, first designing theater costumes, then moving into haute couture in 1953.

His breakout creation was the bubble dress — so called for the bubble-like shape of the area between the waist and the hemline — which he designed in 1954.

Hoping to make designer clothing more accessible, he launched his first ready-to-wear collection at the Printemps department store in Paris in 1959.

Cardin was among the first foreign designers to open shops in Japan, China and Russia. He pioneered modern branding by lending his name to a variety of products — including perfumes, watches, cigarettes and even frying pans — raising eyebrows in the traditional fashion world and earning serious money that he invested in real estate.

Among the designer’s property purchases were a Provence castle, once owned by the Marquis de Sade, and the famous Maxim’s restaurant in Paris, which he transformed into a global chain with locations in New York, Beijing and elsewhere.

In the 1960s, Cardin combined his interest for space exploration with a fascination for technical fabrics, by creating the groundbreaking space age unisex collections.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【同名的】 tóngmíng de eponymous (of a thing) named after a particular person

【中性的】zhōngxìng de unisex designed for or suitable to anyone regardless of one’s sex

法兰西艺术院周二（12月29日）在推特发布声明表示，法国传奇时装设计师皮尔▪卡丹去世，终年98岁。

皮尔▪卡丹设计的服饰曾为许多当红明星增光添彩，其中包括伊丽莎白▪泰勒、芭芭拉▪史翠姗、让娜▪莫罗、杰奎琳▪肯尼迪、夏洛特▪兰普林、甲壳虫乐队和滚石乐队。

皮尔▪卡丹是最早投资商业化时装的设计师之一，并借助强大的品牌力量成为家喻户晓的人物。

1922年皮尔▪卡丹出生于意大利东北部小镇圣比亚焦▪迪卡拉尔塔，距离威尼斯约32公里。他出生时名叫彼得罗，两年后为逃避法西斯主义举家迁到法国后被改名为皮尔。

年轻的皮尔▪卡丹初入时尚界时恰逢他搬到巴黎，当时他为让▪科克托拍摄的电影版《美女与野兽》设计服饰。1946年，他受雇于后来的导师克里斯汀▪迪奥当裁缝，迪奥当时刚在巴黎开了自己的高级时装屋。

四年后，28岁的皮尔▪卡丹以自己的名字创立了时装品牌，起先是设计戏服，然后在1953年开始进军高级时装界。

皮尔▪卡丹的突破性作品是1954年设计的泡泡裙，以腰部和下摆间的区域形似泡泡而得名。

皮尔▪卡丹希望让设计师服装走进千家万户，于是1959年他在巴黎的春天百货推出了自己的第一个成衣系列。

皮尔▪卡丹成为最早在日本、中国和俄罗斯开店的外国设计师之一。他开创了现代品牌的先例，将品牌授权给香水、手表、香烟甚至煎锅等各种产品。这种做法让传统时装界侧目，也让他赚了大钱，开始投资房地产。

皮尔▪卡丹购入的房产包括曾归萨德侯爵所有的波城古堡和巴黎著名的马克西姆餐厅，后来卡丹将其打造成一家全球连锁餐厅，在纽约、北京和其他地方都有分店。

20世纪60年代，皮尔▪卡丹将他对太空探索的兴趣和对高科技面料的痴迷结合在一起，设计出了开创性的中性化太空服系列。

(chinadaily.com.cn)